Washingtonblade.com, Volume 49, Issue 29, July 20, 2018

JULY 20,

2018

VOLUME 49

ISSUE 29

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AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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Delaware guv fails to issue Pride proclamation, triggering backlash ‘Serious questions as to whether he supports LGBTQ equality at all’

By BLAKE CHAMBERS DOVER, Del. — The administration of Delaware Gov. John Carney has been receiving criticism for its handling of LGBTQ issues as of late.

Most of the frustration from LGBT and other progressive activists concerns the administration’s handling of Regulation 225, which would mandate that transgender students request permission from a parent or guardian before changing their gender identity in school. Originally, the regulation would have allowed Delaware students to self-identify their gender and race without parents’ knowledge.

But a new contentious issue has emerged after Gov. Carney declined to issue a proclamation recognizing June as Pride month.

Mark Purpura of Equality Delaware criticized the administration on Facebook for failing to issue the proclamation.

“I don’t know why he refused to celebrate Pride month,” said Purpura.

Delaware Gov. JOHN CARNEY was criticized for failing to issue a Pride proclamation.

“But his recent actions raise serious questions as to whether he supports LGBTQ equality at all, or the platform of the Delaware Democratic Party.”

In response, Jonathan Starkey, communications director for Gov. Carney, said that the governor believes in full LGBTQ equality in Delaware, which is why he initiated a regulation last year that sought to help protect Delaware students from discrimination based on protected characteristics, including gender identity.

“When the governor asked Education

Secretary Susan Bunting to begin the process of creating Regulation 225, he acted on the simple premise that no child should be made to feel uncomfortable or unwelcome at school because of who they are,” Starkey said. “The regulation itself would require schools to work with students and families to provide access to facilities that correspond with a student’s gender identity. And it would require that districts create consistent anti-discrimination policies statewide and submit those policies to the Department

of Education.”

Starkey also said that Gov. Carney’s goal from the beginning was to protect Delaware children from discrimination at school, so they could focus on their education and that is still his goal today. Starkey said the administration understands that there has been significant disagreement over how to best protect Delaware students and that the governor and Secretary Bunting are taking public feedback seriously when making a decision on how to move forward. The public comment period for Regulation 225 ended on July 6. The ACLU of Delaware asserts the proposed regulation would increase the odds that transgender students will face violence in schools and family rejection.

“Governor Carney formally recognized Pride Month by proclamation last year,” Starkey said in response to the criticism over the governor’s failure to issue a proclamation this year. “We did not intend, in any way, to diminish the significant contributions of Delaware’s LGBTQ community.”

Additionally, Starkey mentioned that a gif was posted on Carney’s Facebook page on June 22. The post says, “Happy Pride Month!” with the hashtag #PrideMonth.

Soccer game street closing blocks access to gay nightclub Ziegfeld’s-Secrets owner says action by officers threatens his business

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com As more than 20,000 fans exited Audi Field, the newly built stadium for the D.C. United soccer team on its opening night on July 14, D.C. traffic control officers temporarily blocked cars from entering the street leading to the nearby gay nightclub Ziegfeld’s-Secrets.

Among the motorists that the traffic control officers attempted to prevent from entering the section of Half Street, S.W., on which the nightclub is located, was its owner, Alan Carroll.

“I kept yelling that I work over there on this street and I have to get in there,” Carol told the Washington Blade.

The uniformed traffic control officers, who work for the D.C. Department of Transportation known as DDOT, let Carroll drive through a temporary roadblock they set up barring access to the 1800 block of Half Street.

But other customers of the club that contacted the Blade said the traffic officers ordered them to turn away from that section of Half Street, preventing them from getting to the club. At least two

Ziegfeld’s-Secrets is located near the new Audi Field, creating a traffic nightmare for club patrons on game days.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

regular customers said they were able to gain access to the club about 90 minutes later when the mass exodus of vehicles leaving the area of the stadium subsided and the traffic officers departed.

Another customer said the driver of the Uber car he was in found an alternate circuitous route on the other side of the stadium to get to Ziegfeld’s-Secrets.

“This could be really bad for our business,” said Carroll, who noted that no one from DDOT or other city agencies contacted him in advance to alert the club about the temporary street closing. He said he wondered whether the DDOT officials in

charge of traffic control know his club has operated out of a building two blocks from the new stadium at 1824 Half St., S.W. since 2009 and is struggling to stay in business.

In response to an inquiry from the Blade, DDOT Director Jeff Marootian said in a statement that his agency was reviewing its procedures for traffic flow around Audi Field to determine whether changes should be made.

“Large crowds were drawn to this weekend’s Sports Capital festivities and it was the job of all District agencies to keep fans, residents, and motorists safe and maintain smooth traffic operations,” said

Marootian, who is one of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s high-level LGBT appointees.

“We will continue to strongly encourage the use of all modes of transportation to get around during these types of events, including Capital Bikeshare, a special Circulator Bus route that is in effect on game days, in addition to Metro and ride sharing,” Marootian said.

“We are conducting an after-action review and are receiving feedback about our transportation operations plan for the area and around Audi Field to determine if there are opportunities for changes going forward,” he said.

Ziegfeld’s-Secrets employees and customers have said the three-block section of Half Street leading to the club was riddled with deep and potentially vehicle damaging potholes beginning more than two years before construction for the stadium began.

Carroll said his requests for repairs of the potholes were largely ignored.

Now, after enduring further road closures and detours during the period of construction of the soccer stadium, the club’s employees and customers said they were hopeful that things would settle down once the stadium was completed.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said the club’s general manager Steven Delurba. “Nobody tells us anything,” he said in referring to city agencies involved in the soccer stadium project.

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LGBT tipped workers join effort to repeal Initiative 77 Controversial measure introduced in D.C. Council

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com LGBT tipped workers, including many who work in the city’s gay bars, were among more than 200 hospitality industry employees and managers who visited members of the D.C. City Council last week to urge the Council to overturn an initiative passed by the city’s voters last month that would end the tipped wage system.

Seven members of the Council, including Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), responded the next day by introducing a bill to repeal Initiative 77, which voters approved by a 56 percent to 44 percent margin in the city’s June 19 primary election.

Initiative 77, if it remains in effect, would require restaurants, bars and other employers of tipped workers to pay those workers the city’s full minimum wage, which is currently $13.25 per hour and which will increase to $15 per hour in 2020. The minimum wage for tipped workers is currently $3.89 per hour.

Under the so-called tipped wage law, employers in the city’s highly competitive restaurant, bar and nightclub industries are allowed to pay their tipped workers a lower minimum wage on grounds that they make more than the city’s full

PHIL MENDELSON introduced a bill to repeal Initiative 77, which voters approved by a 56 percent to 44 percent margin.

WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

minimum wage in tips. Restaurant owners have said Initiative 77 would increase their labor costs to a degree that they could be forced out of business or be forced to raise prices for food and beverages, which they say would result in lower tips and a lower overall income for tipped workers.

Mendelson said he believed the initiative was confusing to voters because it didn’t make clear that under the city’s current “tipped wage” law employers of tipped workers are required to pay them the difference if their tips fall short of the full city minimum wage.

He noted that while he spoke out

against the initiative during his re-election campaign this spring in the Democratic primary and his opponent was a strong supporter of the initiative, he won the primary with 63 percent of the vote.

Supporters of Initiative 77, including some local and national LGBT advocacy organizations, said many tipped workers do not earn the full minimum wage in tips and that some employers were not paying them the difference. Supporters also argued that relying on tips for their income has subjected workers to sexual harassment by customers.

They pointed out that in most states and cities that have enacted laws similar

to Initiative 77 take-home pay from both wages and tips has increased.

Mendelson said the bill calling for repealing Initiative 77 would be taken up by the Council in September after it returns from its summer recess, which begins this week. The seven Council members who co-introduced the bill make up a majority of the 13-member Council.

With at least two other Council members saying they are leaning toward voting for the repeal bill and with Mayor Muriel Bowser saying her opposition to the initiative has not changed since it passed in the election last month, most observers familiar with the Council expect the repeal bill to pass.

“It would be deeply undemocratic for Council to overturn the will of the people,” said Diana Ramirez, spokesperson for One Fair Wage D.C., the group that led the campaign in support of Initiative 77.

Gay nightlife advocate Mark Lee, who was among the leaders of a group representing tipped workers and restaurants and bars opposed to the initiative, said he is certain a majority of tipped workers support the repeal bill.

“Tipped workers at the city’s bars, restaurants, and nightclubs, including the large number of LGBT hospitality professionals, breathed a sigh of relief this week that a majority of the D.C. Council has introduced a bill to repeal Initiative 77,” Lee said.

Jane Fonda calls on D.C. Council to uphold tipped worker initiative ‘They are going against the voice of the people’

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com Actress Jane Fonda joined supporters of D.C.’s Initiative 77 in visits to the offices of City Council members on June 13 to urge the Council not to overturn the initiative, which would raise the minimum wage of tipped workers to $15 an hour by 2025.

Fonda, a longtime political activist, said she decided to come to D.C. in support of tipped workers after learning that the Council was considering a bill to overturn the initiative. Voters approved the measure in the city’s June 19 primary election by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent.

“When I heard two days ago what the City Council was doing I determined I wanted to come here and try to talk to them,” Fonda told reporters outside the John A. Wilson D.C. city hall building.

“I was here last fall also talking to the City Council,” Fonda said. “I was sure that they would support the voice of the people. I really believed that. So I’m quite stunned,” she said upon learning that the

Council was considering overturning the ballot measure.

Council Chair Phil Mendelson and six of his colleagues introduced a bill on July 10 calling for blocking Initiative 77 from taking effect on grounds that it would hurt rather than help tipped workers.

The tipped workers, including a number of LGBT tipped workers, said most tipped workers already earn more than $15 per hour. They said forcing restaurants, bars and other businesses that employ tipped workers to pay that amount in wages would create a financial burden that could force them out of business or raise prices for customers that would result in lower tips.

The Council members who introduced the repeal bill also noted that voter turnout for the June 19 primary was an all-time low of 18.6 percent and could not be viewed as a true mandate of city residents on the initiative.

But Fonda and Dianna Ramirez, coordinator of the campaign to pass the initiative, said restaurant and bar owners were misleading many of the tipped workers by exaggerating the effect that “one fair wage” would have on these businesses. They pointed to seven states

Actress JANE FONDA said she was ‘quite stunned’ that the City Council is considering overturning the tipped worker ballot measure.

BLADE PHOTO BY LOU CHIBBARO JR.

that have adopted a higher minimum wage for tipped workers, in which they said restaurants and other businesses that employ tipped workers are thriving.

Asked what she planned to say to the Council members she planned to visit, Fonda said, “That they are being undemocratic, that they are going against the voice of the people and it’s unacceptable.”

She added, “And everyone we’ve talked to in this city is very angry about what they’re doing, so we have to persuade

them not to do it and to support the voice of the people.”

Frank Mills, a bartender at Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Adams Morgan, was among about a dozen tipped workers opposing Initiative 77 that assembled outside the Wilson Building a short distance from where Fonda and Ramirez spoke to reporters, including several TV news camera crews.

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‘Fierce warriors’ rally against Trump plan to undo trans health rule Obama-era regulation in jeopardy

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com Transgender rights advocates rallied Tuesday night in defiance of Trump administration plans to roll back a rule under Obamacare barring health care providers from denying treatment to transgender people, including gender reassignment surgery.

The attendees congregated at the headquarters of the AFL-CIO near the White House as the Trump administration considers reversing the Obama-era rule interpreting Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which bars sex discrimination in health care, to apply to transgender people.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said the proposal to eliminate the rule demonstrates the Trump administration “is dedicated to hurting trans people among the many other groups of people they’re hurting.”

“Trans children are terrified just as immigrant children are terrified and Muslim children are terrified and black children are terrified and poor children are terrified — and all their parents are terrified,” Keisling said.

For months, the White House Office of Management & Budget website has indicated it’s considering a revision of the Obama-era rule in favor of transgender health — which could be a religious

Trans advocates rallied on Tuesday in opposition to a Trump plan to undo a transgender health care rule.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

exemption or an outright repeal — although no action has yet happened.

Raquel Willis, a black transgender woman from Georgia and national organizer for the Transgender Law Center, said rally attendees were coming together against the proposed rule change “as fierce warriors for liberation.”

“We’re strong enough today because we know the Trump-Pence administration is continuing an onslaught against our people,” Willis said. “Bottom line: Transgender non-conforming folks deserve adequate health care access, doctors and insurance companies that are committed to this fact.”

A federal judge has already enjoined the U.S. government from enforcing the Obama-era rule as a result of litigation filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Trump administration declined to take up an opportunity to

appeal that decision to a higher court.

That decision stands in contrast to rulings from federal courts across the country, which have widely determined anti-trans discrimination amounts to illegal sex discrimination under current law.

Charlotte Clymer, a transgender advocate and spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said the consideration of reversal of the rule is par for the course for the Trump administration.

“The medical community overwhelmingly supports transgender people, the federal courts have consistently ruled in favor of transgender rights,” Clymer said. “The courts and the science are on our side, but it is the public that needs to be made aware of the hatred and viciousness of this White House.”

Other anti-trans policies the Trump administration has pushed include an attempt to ban transgender people

from the military and an assertion that transgender people aren’t covered under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars sex discrimination in the workplace.

Also at the rally was Lori Woehrle, the parent of two sons — one who is transgender — and who talked about the impact the rule change would have on her child.

“As his mother, I can see the apprehension on his face and the worry in his heart even when he puts out a stoic front, so I’m here tonight out of concern that my son — and thousands of other sons and daughters — will soon face a roll back in their ability to access health care,” Woehrle said.

Ruby Corado, a D.C.-based transgender advocate and founder of the Casa Ruby LGBT Community Center, drew on her experience as a transgender person with HIV to emphasize the importance of opposing the proposed reversal.

“I’ve seen in my personal experience what health care can do,” Corado said. “I’m supposed to be dead. I’ve witnessed what transgender-related health care can do for a person who has been newly diagnosed.”

The Washington Blade has placed a request seeking comment with the Department of Health & Human Services for an update on the proposal to rescind the rule.

Although the odds are against transgender advocates in their bid to stop the reversal, Keisling offered attendees encouraging words as she drew the event to a close.

“Everyone remember: We’re not trying to weather the storm right now, we are the fucking storm,” Keisling said to cheers.

Ruby Corado headed to El Salvador with Mayor Bowser Prominent activist was born in Central American country

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Casa Ruby Executive Director Ruby Corado will travel to El Salvador next month with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

A Bowser spokesperson last week confirmed the mayor and a delegation of more than two dozen people that includes Corado are scheduled to arrive in El Salvador on Aug. 11.

Specific details, including who will be part of the delegation, have not been finalized but the spokesperson told the Blade the trip will primarily focus on promoting business and cultural ties between D.C. and the Salvadoran capital of San Salvador. Bowser is expected to be in El Salvador for several days.

Corado told the Blade on Thursday during a telephone interview she plans to raise LGBTI rights while in her homeland.

“I am openly trans,” said Corado, noting she has provided support to trans rights advocates in the country. “Many people in El Salvador know who I am.”

Corado fled the country in 1986 during the country’s civil war.

She spoke at El Salvador’s first LGBTI rights conference that took place in San Salvador in 2013. She last traveled to El Salvador in November 2017.

Statistics from 2016 indicate 14,087 D.C. residents were born in El Salvador, which has one of the world’s highest per capita murder rates. Violence and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation also remain pervasive in the Central American country.

Corado told the Blade the way drug traffickers, gang members and even police officers kill LGBTI Salvadorans is

more violent in neighboring Honduras and Guatemala. Corado also described the Salvadoran judicial system as “violent” and criticized the country’s politicians for not doing enough to tackle violence based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

“It’s like as though LGBT people don’t exist,” she said.

President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy and his administration’s decision in January to end the Temporary Protected Status program for Salvadorans, which has allowed up to 200,000 of them to receive temporary residency permits that have allowed them to stay in the U.S., has sparked widespread concern and criticism in El Salvador.

Bowser said ending TPS for Salvadorans “will in no way make Americans safer, stronger or more prosperous.” Corado told the Blade some LGBTI Salvadorans who are either undocumented or have

TPS “will end up dead” if they are forced to return to El Salvador.

“The truth is that so many people are going to be going back to...a very difficult country,” she said.

The Bowser spokesperson with whom the Blade spoke stressed Trump’s immigration policy did not factor into the mayor’s decision to travel to El Salvador.

The spokesperson nevertheless stressed the Bowser administration continues to support immigrants who live in D.C. Bowser in a statement she released shortly after Trump’s election reaffirmed D.C.’s status as a so-called “sanctuary city” that protects undocumented immigrants.

Bowser last month announced her administration would make $900,000 available through Fiscal Year 2019 to the Immigrant Justice Legal Services Grant Program, which provides resources to immigrants who live in D.C. Bowser launched the program less than two weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

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National Airport restaurant accused of anti-gay bias Staffer claims manager of Good Stuff Eatery threatened to assault him

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com A gay former manager at the Good Stuff Eatery restaurant at Reagan National Airport charges in a discrimination complaint that he was harassed, threatened with assault, demoted, and later fired by the restaurant’s district manager because of his sexual orientation, race, and status as a “nonconforming” male.

George Curtis, 29, of Oxon Hill, Md., told the Washington Blade the alleged harassment and discriminatory action took place in December 2017 before and after he raised concerns with management about broken equipment and a crumbling wall in the restaurant’s kitchen next to GEORGE CURTIS claims he was harassed, threatened with assault, a food table that he considered to be unsanitary. demoted, and later fired by the Good Curtis, who filed the complaint Feb. 14, 2018 Stuff Eatery in National Airport. with the Arlington County Office of Human PHOTO COURTESY CURTIS Rights, said he believes the demotion and firing were also in retaliation for his decision to file a separate complaint with the Arlington County Health Department about the alleged unsanitary conditions in the kitchen after he said management refused to correct the kitchen matter.

“I experienced harassment because [of my] sex (male, non-conforming) and my sexual orientation by my manager and other staff who made comments about me, including ‘his gay ass doesn’t do anything,’ calling me ‘princess’ and ‘prima donna,’ saying ‘don’t break a nail’ and my District Manager saying ‘you cannot be pretty all the time, you have to get your hands dirty,’” Curtis states in his complaint.

“On Dec. 22, 2017, my manager threatened to ‘cut my fucking tongue out’ because he thought I was recording our meetings,” Curtis’s complaint states.

The complaint says Curtis was informed that he was terminated for disorderly conduct and improper behavior. He told the Blade that management informed him the demotion and firing were also related to repeated instances in which he showed up late for work.

“I believe this was a pretextual reason to remove me from my job because I complained about harassment and poor working conditions,” Curtis states in the complaint.

He told the Blade the dates and times for which he was accused of showing up late for work had been approved in advance by management as leave time after he requested the leave to care for his mother who had been hospitalized at the time.

His discrimination complaint filed with the Arlington Office of Human Rights names as the accused party a company called Outstanding Hospitality Management LLC, which owns the franchise rights to the Good Stuff Eatery restaurant at Reagan Airport.

Milan Patel, Outstanding Hospitality Management’s president, told the Washington Blade in a telephone interview on July 16 that his company investigated Curtis’s allegations and determined they could not be substantiated.

“The investigation revealed in no uncertain terms that Mr. Curtis’s claims are without merit and that he was terminated just for cause and not for any discriminatory reason,” Patel said.

Patel added that Curtis’s allegations “will be opposed with witness evidence as well as witness testimony in any courts or administrative proceedings if we need to. In fact, such evidence has already been provided to the Arlington County, Va., Office of Human Rights.”

Kyle Epting, an Arlington attorney representing Sunnyside Restaurant Group, a familyowned company that created the Good Stuff Eatery restaurant franchise chain, said that under legal agreements between the Sunnyside Restaurant Group and Outstanding Hospitality Management LLC, Outstanding Hospitality Management has full control over the operations of the Good Stuff Eatery at Reagan Airport and it, rather than Sunnyside, bears full responsibility for the actions of that restaurant.

“We have always embraced diversity in our company and our lives believing that people from all backgrounds enhance our family, customers, and staff,” said Micheline Mendelsohn, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Sunnyside Restaurant Group, in a statement to the Blade.

“We were very saddened to hear of the allegations of an employee regarding his employment at the Good Stuff Eatery airport location operated by one of our franchisees,” she said. “We have taken these allegations very seriously and moved quickly to ensure that the franchisee was handling the matter, and operating their store and employees in

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the spirit of our family beliefs,” Mendelsohn told the Blade in her statement.

“And it is our understanding that OHM conducted an internal investigation and found the complaints to be unsubstantiated,” she said.

D.C. attorney George Gilliard, who is representing Curtis, said he believes based on existing case law that all of the companies associated with the Good Stuff Eatery restaurant at Reagan National Airport, including Sunnyside Restaurant Group, could be held in some way responsible for the alleged discriminatory action against Curtis.

He said that he is considering filing a lawsuit on Curtis’s behalf to seek compensation for Curtis’s firing and the alleged harassment and threats he says he encountered at the Good Stuff Eatery.

“The Mendelsohns’ attorney Kyle Epting likely believes that without the Mendelsohns’ control over the day-to-day operations at the Reagan Good Stuff Eatery, no lawsuit lies against the Mendelsohns’ companies,” Gilliard said, adding, “I disagree.”

Gilliard cited past court cases involving the McDonald’s restaurant franchise chain and Dunkin Donuts in which the U.S. National Labor Relations Board under certain circumstances held McDonald’s responsible for actions by one of its franchisees. He said a court held Dunkin Donuts responsible for action by one of its franchisees.

A document from the Arlington County Health Department that Gilliard sent to the Blade confirms that a complaint about alleged unsanitary conditions at the Good Stuff Eatery at Reagan Airport was filed at the time Curtis said he filed it. A Health Department official states in the document that the restaurant was cited for a violation after a health inspector visited the establishment. It says the violation was subsequently corrected.

Gilliard said should he file a lawsuit on Curtis’s behalf it would likely, among other things, charge that the restaurant violated state and federal laws protecting whistleblowers from retaliation on matters such as a health violation.

He said the alleged threat by the manager to assault Curtis would constitute a civil assault and potentially a criminal assault under Virginia law, and that issue would also be raised in a possible lawsuit.

The manager named in the complaint couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Gilliard sent letters to the two companies offering to settle the disputes if the companies provided Curtis with a monetary compensation package, but so far they have not responded to that offer, he told the Blade. However, according to Gilliard, the attorney representing OHM LLC told him he believed Curtis was “lying” about the allegations he made in his complaint.

Curtis said he was first hired by OHM LLC at the Reagan Airport Good Stuff Eatery in March 2017 as a manager/shift leader. He said he was demoted in December to the position of cashier.

■ CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

NAACP hosts ‘historic’ LGBT Town Hall

A panel of seven prominent African-American LGBT leaders participated in a first-of-itskind Town Hall gathering on Tuesday, July 17, called “The State of LGBT People of Color in America” as part of the NAACP’s’ 109th Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson, NAACP Board of Directors Chair Leon Russell, and the organization’s California Chapter President Alice Huffman, who serves as co-chair of the NAACP’s LGBTQ Equality Task Force, were among the high-level NAACP officials that stopped by the Town Hall or who spoke to participants at an LGBTQ networking reception following the Town Hall.

“It was truly historic,” said Earl Fowlkes, president and CEO of the D.C.-based national LGBT group Center for Black Equity, who served as one of the panelists.

“I’ve already had some preliminary discussion on how we work together to build the membership within the LGBT community for the NAACP and their work and how the NAACP can champion LGBT issues and causes,” Fowlkes said The Town Hall, which can be viewed on video posted on the NAACP’s website, drew an audience of about 100 people and included discussion of a wide range of topics.

Among them were the black church and its evolving relations with LGBT people; the role of African Americans within the LGBT rights movement, efforts to increase the turnout of the black LGBT vote in local and national elections; and racism within the LGBT community and homophobia within the African-American community.

Shijuade Kadree, senior director of Public Policy & Advocacy for the New York City LGBT Community Center, served as moderator of the Town Hall.

In addition to Fowlkes, the panelists included Marshal R. Bonner, Diversity, Inclusion & Equality Empowerment Speaker and Founder of Help Us Grow Spiritually (HUGS); David Johns, Executive Director of the LGBT group National Black Justice Coalition; Kierra Johnson, Deputy Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force; Rev. Irene Monroe, theologian and Huffington Post blogger; Angelica Ross, actress and founder of Trans Tech Social Enterprises; and Amiyah Scott, social media influencer, model and actress.

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LGBT advocates outraged over Trump’s deference to Putin Anti-gay abuses in Chechnya ignored despite pleas for action

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com The news conference that followed President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki led to jaw-dropping reactions across the globe, including from LGBT advocates and observers who say it had a negative impact on LGBT rights despite Trump’s backpedaling days later.

Trump on Monday appeared alongside Putin at a news conference and sided with the Russian leader over the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies and the Senate Intelligence Committee that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election, which led to U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 12 Russians who implemented the plan.

“My people came to me — Dan Coats came to me and some others — they said they think it’s Russia,” Trump said.

“I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

Trump also referenced conspiracy theories about servers for the Democratic National Committee and 33,000 emails Hillary Clinton refused to make public during the election. Additionally, Trump embraced a Russian proposal for an internal investigation of the 12 Russians as opposed to calling for their extradition to the United States.

“So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said. “And what he did is an incredible offer; he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer.”

Trump’s words gave credence to the notion Putin has compromising material on Trump that’s keeping the U.S. president under Russia’s control.

When asked about it during the news conference, Putin cast doubt over the idea, but didn’t outright deny it.

“When President Trump was at Moscow back then, I didn’t even know that he was in Moscow,” Putin said. “I treat President Trump with utmost respect. But back then, when he was a private individual, a businessman, nobody informed me that he was in Moscow.”

Putin added it’s “difficult to imagine an utter nonsense of a bigger scale than this” and “please just disregard these issues and don’t think about this anymore again.”

The comments during the news conference overshadowed the fact the meeting yielded nothing in terms of international policy, such as an

agreement on nuclear arms reduction or Russian withdrawal from Crimea.

The firestorm that erupted after the news conference wasn’t confined to Democrats and Trump’s opponents, but others who generally support him, including Fox News commentators and Newt Gingrich, who said Trump committed “the most serious mistake of his presidency.”

LGBT advocates added to those concerns, saying the apparent deference to Putin undermined U.S. standing in advocating for LGBT human rights, especially in Russia which has a troubling record of anti-LGBT hostility.

Recently, in the Russian semiautonomous region of Chechnya, reports have emerged that local authorities have rounded up and even executed gay men in concentration camps.

On the eve of the conference, the Human Rights Campaign arranged for a light projection on the presidential palace in Helsinki calling on Trump and Putin to “stop the crimes against humanity in Chechnya.”

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley issued a statement last year calling the reports of Chechnya abuses “troubling” and the Treasury Department sanctioned Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov late last year under the Magnitsky Act after the abuses were made public.

However, Trump himself has yet to comment on them unlike other world leaders like Theresa May, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.

David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign, said Trump added to the debacle at Helsinki by not addressing anti-gay abuses in Chechnya.

“Instead of standing up to Putin, Trump groveled before him in a shameful and unprecedented display of deference to a man who is intent on harming his own LGBTQ citizens and the United States,” Stacy said.

“We will continue to work with Members of Congress, from both parties, to raise these concerns with the Russian government, in the media, and in multilateral forums. On Election Day, the American people must hold Donald Trump accountable and any elected official who continues to enable his destructive incompetence.”

Days after the news conference in Helsinki upon returning to the United States, Trump sang a different tune in a gaggle with reporters, walking back his comments and insisting he has “full faith in our intelligence agencies.”

“I accept our intelligence community conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump said.

Trump also said he misspoke when he said during the news conference he doesn’t see any reason why Russia would be responsible for the interference.

“The sentence should have been: ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia,” Trump said. “Sort of a double negative.”

President DONALD TRUMP faced fierce criticism after his Helsinki news conference with Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN.

HRC on July 15 projected an image onto the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, that urges U.S. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to publicly denounce the crackdown against gay men in Chechnya.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TY COBB/HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN

But Trump’s reversal wasn’t enough for many observers who remain indignant over his performance in Helsinki.

Michael Guest, who’s gay and a former U.S. ambassador to Romania, said Congress should step up efforts in the aftermath of the Trump-Putin meeting.

“President Trump’s public comments and actions give no reason to believe that he cares about human rights, or that he pressed Putin to bring justice to those responsible for the atrocities carried out against LGBT people in Chechnya,” Guest said. “This was possibly the most appalling international performance, ever, by a U.S. president. It’s time for Congress to ratchet up its oversight of this bilateral relationship, America’s

silence on human rights and the negative impact this president is having on our country’s standing in the world.”

Daniel Baer, who’s gay and the former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe, said: “Russia’s terrible record on hunan rights has long been on the agenda for meetings between leaders and senior officials.

Many of us hoped against all odds that Trump might raise the ongoing violent attacks on LGBTQ people in Chechnya and the broader state-sponsored homophobia of the Putin regime, or the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov who is on a hunger strike as a political prisoner in Russia. Instead, Trump sold out America, our allies and the cause of human rights.”

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Feinstein, de León race throws LGBT Democrats into a tizzy California contest features two strong allies

By KAREN OCAMB The world is still reeling from Donald Trump’s jaw-dropping news conference in Helsinki, Finland on July 16 when the American president stood shoulder-to- shoulder with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, and said he believed Putin over U.S. Intelligence, despite having been briefed in advance that 13 Russian nationals were about to be indicted for interfering in the 2016 elections. Trump tried to walk back his comments when he returned to the White House, but the shock was done and his pseudo apology was construed as shameless spin.

Former CIA Director John Brennan tweeted that Trump’s performance Former state Sen. Pro Tem KEVIN DE LEÓN at an Equality California gala. “rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was PHOTO BY KAREN OCAMB nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”

Who knows what other bleak events might befall the country before November?

But Californians have time to decide whether to reelect Democratic icon Sen. Dianne Feinstein or her spirited rival, former state legislator Kevin de León, both of whom responded quickly to the Trump-Putin show in Helsinki.

“President Trump has to stop kowtowing to Vladimir Putin, and his Republican allies in Washington have to stand up and say enough is enough. Whatever the reason behind President Trump’s cozy relationship with Vladimir Putin, it needs to stop. The president’s actions are undermining our national security,” Feinstein said in a statement, reflecting her credentials as the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Select Subcommittee on Intelligence and on Defense.

De León responded as a challenger, arguing that scornful words are not enough.

“Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, need to start acting like a co-equal branch of government and hold @realDonaldTrump accountable. His words siding with Vladimir Putin over our US Intelligence Agencies are nothing less than treacherous, unpatriotic, and anti-American,” the former State Senator Pro Tem tweeted.

California LGBT Democrats know them both, well. Feinstein, 85, discovered the body of her assassinated gay colleague, San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, in 1978, a memory that fuels her passion against assault weapons. Her legislative prestige lent significant weight to the battle against Prop 8 in 2008 when she supported marriage equality. But her renowned penchant for bipartisanship turned her into an SNL character for a skit where she’s too eager to believe Trump wants gun regulations.

De León has been ubiquitous at LGBT events, often as an honored ally as he backed LGBT legislation or offered support for LGBT Latino organizations, hanging out with longtime gay friends State Sen. Ricardo Lara and former Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez. He authored California’s sanctuary state law, SB54, the California Values Act, that limits local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration officials, working with critics such as LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell until it was a bill Gov. Jerry Brown could sign.

There is an intense, but so far civil debate over who would best represent California: the seasoned elected official with seniority or the young activist lawmaker anxious for his turn at national power. On July 14, the majority of California Democratic Party activists at the CDP’s executive board meeting in Oakland thanked Feinstein for her decades of service then voted to endorse de León. He secured 217 delegates (65%) while Feinstein garnered only 22 with 94 votes cast for no endorsement. It was another rebuke after the CDP’s 2,700 delegates at the state convention in San Diego in February gave de León 54% of the vote, short of the 60% required for an outright endorsement, while Feinstein received 37%.

The headlines were not kind but Feinstein only had to wait until the June 5 primary when she captured 44% of the vote in a field of more than 30 candidates, compared to de León’s 12%. She also received more than two million votes and carried every county,

NATIONAL NEWS

including the county de León represented. Nonetheless, in the state’s top-two primary system, Feinstein faces de León in November, presumably with all the snarky circular firing squad shooting Democrats have been known to muster.

“Today’s vote is a clear-eyed rejection of politics as usual in Washington, D.C.,” de León said in a statement after his CDP endorsement. “We have presented Californians with the first real alternative to the worn-out Washington playbook in a quarter-century.”

With the CDP endorsement, de León now gets party money, volunteers, organizing help and promotion—all of which at least six Democratic candidates for vulnerable Republican-held congressional seats felt should have come to them. “A divisive party endorsement for U.S. Senate would hurt all down-ballot candidates and our ability to turn out Democrats we desperately need to vote in November,” the candidates said in a letter to the executive board before the vote.

Feinstein, who is independently wealthy, had $7 million in campaign cash while de León had $693,689 cash on hand as of May 16, the most recent campaign finance report. But de León also can count on his friend, billionaire Tom Steyer, who is actively pushing for Trump’s impeachment.

“I don’t really feel that pressure” to give way to a younger generation, Feinstein told POLITICO July 17. “I’m sure some people think that way, but I look at my vote, and there aren’t a lot of people that can win every county in the state.”

Feinstein’s campaign fired off an email after the endorsement saying: “yesterday doesn’t change this…,” reiterating laudatory endorsements from Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jerry Brown, Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi.

Given the numbers, many politicos expect Feinstein to win reelection easily in November. Others, however, point to the progressive enthusiasm on the left and remind everyone that numbers became suspect after November 2016.

Kennedy, Markey seek to ban anti-LGBT panic defense The use of a panic defense to justify anti-LGBT violence in federal court will come to an end if new legislation introduced last week by a pair of Massachusetts Democrats becomes law.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.) in the U.S. House and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) in the U.S. Senate, is called the Gay & Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act and would ban the use of anti-LGBT panic Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) cointroduced legislation against antidefense from being cited as a legal LGBT panic defense. defense in federal court.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY In a statement to the Washington Blade — which learned exclusively about the legislation — Kennedy said an admission of committing a violent crime against someone because they’re LGBT “is not a defense, it is a hate crime.”

“Legal loopholes written into our laws that seek to justify violent attacks against our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender neighbors should never have existed in the first place,” Kennedy said.

Markey said in a statement to the Blade a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity “cannot ever excuse violence, and our courtrooms should not be used as chambers of hate.”

“Gay and trans panic legal defenses reflect an irrational fear and bigotry toward the LGBTQ community and corrode the legitimacy of federal prosecutions,” Markey said. “These defenses must be prohibited to ensure that all Americans are treated with dignity and humanity in our justice system.”

Fear of being hit on by gay men and discovering a potential partner is transgender have been used for decades as a defense in court — either “gay panic” or “trans panic.” In the 1990s, the killers of Matthew Shepard — a gay college student murdered because of his sexual orientation near Laramie, Wyo. — invoked the gay panic defense to justify their hate crimes against him.

There are signs use of the defense continues to this day. Earlier this year, a former police officer in Austin, Texas, received a lighter sentence for stabbing his neighbor in what some called an example of gay panic defense.

CHRIS JOHNSON

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In adults with HIV on ART who have diarrhea not caused by an infection IMPORTANT PATIENT INFORMATION This is only a summary. See complete Prescribing Information at Mytesi.com or by calling 1-844-722-8256. This does not take the place of talking with your doctor about your medical condition or treatment.

What Is Mytesi?

Mytesi is a prescription medicine used to improve symptoms of noninfectious diarrhea (diarrhea not caused by a bacterial, viral, or parasitic infection) in adults living with HIV/AIDS on ART. Do Not Take Mytesi if you have diarrhea caused by an infection.

Before you start Mytesi, your doctor and you should make sure your diarrhea is not caused by an infection (such as bacteria, virus, or parasite).

Possible Side Effects of Mytesi Include:

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Enough is Enough Get relief. Pure and simple. Ask your doctor about Mytesi.

Mytesi (crofelemer): • Is the only medicine FDA-approved to relieve diarrhea in people with HIV • Treats diarrhea differently by normalizing the flow of water in the GI tract • Has the same or fewer side effects as placebo in clinical studies • Comes from a tree sustainably harvested in the Amazon Rainforest What is Mytesi?

Mytesi is a prescription medicine that helps relieve symptoms of diarrhea not caused by an infection (noninfectious) in adults living with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Important Safety Information Mytesi is not approved to treat infectious diarrhea (diarrhea caused by bacteria, a virus, or a parasite). Before starting you on Mytesi, your healthcare provider will first be sure that you do not have infectious diarrhea. Otherwise, there is a risk you would not receive the right medicine and your infection could get worse. In clinical studies, the most common side effects that occurred more often than with placebo were upper respiratory tract (sinus, nose, and throat) infection (5.7%), bronchitis (3.9%), cough (3.5%), flatulence (3.1%), and increased bilirubin (3.1%).

For Copay Savings Card and Patient Assistance, see Mytesi.com

Should I Take Mytesi If I Am: Pregnant or Planning to Become Pregnant?

• Studies in animals show that Mytesi could harm an unborn baby or affect the ability to become pregnant • There are no studies in pregnant women taking Mytesi • This drug should only be used during pregnancy if clearly needed A Nursing Mother?

• It is not known whether Mytesi is passed through human breast milk • If you are nursing, you should tell your doctor before starting Mytesi • Your doctor will help you to decide whether to stop nursing or to stop taking Mytesi Under 18 or Over 65 Years of Age? • Mytesi has not been studied in children under 18 years of age • Mytesi studies did not include many people over the age of 65.

So it is not clear if this age group will respond differently. Talk to your doctor to find out if Mytesi is right for you

What Should I Know About Taking Mytesi With Other Medicines?

If you are taking any prescription or over-the-counter medicine, herbal supplements, or vitamins, tell your doctor before starting Mytesi.

What If I Have More Questions About Mytesi?

For more information, please see the full Prescribing Information at Mytesi.com or speak to your doctor or pharmacist.

To report side effects or make a product complaint or for additional information, call 1-844-722-8256.

Rx Only Manufactured by Patheon, Inc. for Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. San Francisco, CA 94105 Copyright © Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Please see complete Prescribing Information at Mytesi.com.

NP-390-17

• Upper respiratory tract infection (sinus, nose, and throat infection) • Bronchitis (swelling in the tubes that carry air to and from your lungs) • Cough • Flatulence (gas) • Increased bilirubin (a waste product when red blood cells break down) For a full list of side effects, please talk to your doctor. Tell your doctor if you have any side effect that bothers you or does not go away.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

RELIEF, PURE AND SIMPLE

Mytesi comes from the Croton lechleri tree harvested in South America.

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I N T E RN A T I O N A L N E W S

Violence prompts LGBTI Hondurans to migrate Gay asylum seeker’s friend raped, killed in front of him

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — Members of Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa, an LGBTI advocacy group in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, on July 11 were sewing a transgender Pride flag for an upcoming march. On the wall behind them were the pictures of 19 local activists and community members who have been killed over the last decade.

“You can be killed at any moment in this extremely violent country,” a lesbian activist told the Blade during an interview with three others affiliated with Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa who identify as transsexual women.

Honduras has one of the world’s highest per capita murder rates because of violence that is frequently associated with gangs and drug traffickers. Violence and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation remains commonplace in the Central American country that borders Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

One of the activists with whom the Blade spoke at Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa has previously received death threats.

She and her three colleagues asked the Blade not to publish their names or take their pictures because of concerns over their personal safety. One of the activists — a trans woman — said “nothing has changed” in San Pedro Sula since the Blade last reported from the city in February 2017.

“What has increased and has changed is migration,” she said. “There are more trans girls migrating from the country.”

The activists spoke with the Blade amid lingering outrage over President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which included the separation of migrant children from their parents once they entered the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen last week met with the foreign ministers of Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico in Guatemala City.

She announced the creation of an office within her agency that will advise their governments about the reunification of migrant children who have been separated from their parents.

The activists with whom the Blade spoke said violence and a lack of economic opportunities are the primary reasons that prompt lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and especially trans Hondurans to leave the country.

Statistics from Cattrachas, a lesbian feminist network that is based in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, indicate 15 people have been reported killed in the

A picture of ROXANA HERNÁNDEZ, a transgender Honduran woman with HIV who died in ICE custody in May, hangs on a wall inside the offices of Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa, an LGBTI advocacy group in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on July 11.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL K. LAVERS

country so far this year because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

A gay Honduran man seeking asylum in Mexico told the Blade on Tuesday during an interview outside a refugee center in Mexico City that he fled San Pedro Sula earlier this year after gang members attacked him. The man said the gang members also raped his friend before they killed her in front of him.

“The situation therefore never changes for the community,” said the trans activist in San Pedro Sula who has previously received death threats. “We always have poverty, insecurity for trans girls. This is the main reason for migrating.”

The death of Roxana Hernández — a trans Honduran woman with HIV who died at a New Mexico hospital on May 25 while in ICE custody — sparked outrage among advocates in Honduras and in the U.S. Hernández, who was from the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, was in San Pedro Sula before she joined a 300-person caravan that traveled to the U.S. border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection took her into custody on May 9 when she asked for asylum at the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego.

Hernández’s picture is among the 19 that are on the wall at Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa’s offices. The four activists with whom the Blade spoke were quick to point out other trans Hondurans have also been killed after leaving the country.

“Roxana’s case is being politicized at the moment,” said the lesbian activist. “It

is being politicized in the sense that she represented a struggle when we were looking for martyred colleagues.”

“Roxana became a colleague as a result,” she added. “There are many other colleagues as well.”

Honduran first lady Ana García earlier this month visited a detention center in McAllen, Texas, after Trump issued an executive order that ended the separation of migrant children from their parents.

CNN reported García urged Hondurans to remain in the country and “let’s look for solutions to support you.”

García on June 19 made a similar plea on her Twitter page.

“Don’t migrate, don’t risk the lives of your children on that route,” she said.

“Avoid traumas because with the U.S. ‘zero tolerance’ policy, you will be separated from your little ones when you arrive illegally.”

More than 30 peopled died in violent protests that took place across the country after President Juan Orlando Hernández’s disputed re-election last November. The activists in San Pedro Sula with whom the Blade spoke said it is possible the Honduran government has not explicitly criticized Trump’s immigration policy because it does not want to lose U.S. aid.

The U.S. Agency for International Development reports Honduras received $127,506,634 in U.S. foreign aid in fiscal year 2016. Full figures from fiscal years 2017 and 2018 are not yet available.

The lesbian activist with whom the Blade

spoke said the Honduran government has not implemented a socio-economic plan “to benefit the population.”

She said the government has increased funding of the country’s Military and National Police, which have been accused of human rights violations. The lesbian activist also told the Blade a lack of legal protections for trans Hondurans and their inability to legally change the name and gender on their ID cards has also made them increasingly vulnerable to discrimination and violence.

One of the trans activists noted the Honduran government “does not have a plan” to help LGBTI migrants. U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) last month told the Blade after he and other members of Congress traveled to South Texas there are no policies in place that specifically address the needs of LGBTI migrant children who the Trump administration separated from their parents.

All four of the activists said they have no plans to leave Honduras in spite of the rampant violence and discrimination that exists in their country.

One of the trans activists said she traveled to Mexico City three years ago to undergo cosmetic surgery. She said she returned to Honduras because her experience in the Mexican capital was “very ugly.”

The lesbian activist said she would stay in Honduras because she has “stability.”

“I would think about leaving, about migrating, if I didn’t have the stability that I have,” she added.

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Keep your promise to protect each other.

Even with PrEP, HIV rates still a concern for gays DUBLIN — Men with same-sex sexual partners are 28 times more likely to contract HIV than their heterosexual counterparts despite a radical reduction in new infections among gay men in Western countries, according to a U.N. report released this week, the Independent, an Irish newspaper, reports.

The overall annual number of new HIV infections dropped from a high of 3.4 million in 1996 to 1.8 million last year, according to UNAIDS, which coordinates the organization’s global response to HIV/AIDS. Yet gay men and men who have sex with men remained most at risk of contracting HIV, along with female sex workers, drug users and transgender women, the Global Aids Update 2018 report noted.

In North America, Western Europe and Australia, the roll-out of PrEP has seen transmission rates drop dramatically among gay men, the Independent reports.

Take-up of PrEP, sold commercially as Truvada, saw new infections fall by 43 percent in San Francisco in three years. The Australian state of New South Wales reported a similar drop of 35 percent over two years since its introduction.

In Britain, however, PrEP remains controversial. Last year, following a court battle with one of Britain’s leading HIV/AIDS charities, the National Health Service embarked on a three-year trial of Truvada among 10,000 gay and bisexual men and men who have sex with men, the Independent reports.

Charities and campaigners on Tuesday called for the trial numbers to be expanded.

“We are aware of one person who was turned away and subsequently became HIV positive,” said Matthew Hodson, executive director of NAM, a British HIV/ AIDS information charity, the Independent reports.

“What we should be doing is ensuring that anyone who is at high risk of acquiring HIV – and that includes anyone who is homosexually active – has the ability to access PrEP,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In 2014, UN member states pledged to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. According to UNAIDS, last year saw a million fewer AIDS-related deaths than 13 years ago.

The overall rate of reduction in new infections has also faltered in recent years. The number of people contracting HIV fell by approximately 100,000 between 2016 and 2017, having remained static over the previous 12 months, the Independent reports.

Study finds aging harder for LGBT people

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SAN FRANCISCO — Aging is harder for LGBT people according to findings from an ongoing project, LGBTQ Nation reports.

“Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging and Sexuality/Gender Study,” a federally funded, ongoing study operated by the National LGBT Health and Aging Center, found higher rates of disability and mental distress among older LGBT people vs. their straight counterparts, a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease 5130 Wisconsin Ave. NW • DC • (202) 966-6400 • www.JosephGawlers.com and obesity in older lesbian and bi women and a higher incidence of poor physical health and living alone for older gay and bi men, LGBTQ Nation reports.

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Fredriksen Goldsen, one of the primary researchers for the study quoted in a release from the American Heart Association.

The project was funded via a federal grant from the National Institute of Health and the National Institute on Aging and is a collaboration of 17 community agencies serving older LGBT people across the U.S., LGBTQ Nation reports.

The agencies involved cut across a broad swath of demographics, allowing the project to look deeper into disparities amongst specific subgroups in the community. For example, older LGBT African-Americans are more likely to deal SUMMER SALE with obesity and high blood pressure, while older LGBT Asian/Pacific Islanders All items 10% to 40% Off face a higher incidence of visual impairments, LGBTQ Nation reports.

July 13 – 29, 2018

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VIEWPOINT

Mister Rogers still inspires New documentary reminds us to resist cruelty with love

You Be My Neighbor,” that Francois Clemmons, who played police officer Clemmons on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” for 25 years, was the first black American to have a recurring role on children’s TV. Or that Clemmons, who is writing, “Vanity Fair” reported, a memoir called “DivaMan: My Life,” is now openly gay.

Changing from his suit and loafers into his comfy cardigan and sneakers, Mister

Rogers didn’t use religious language on his show. Rogers’ deceptively simple message for every child (and the child in every adult) was: You are not a mistake. You are valuable and loved for who you are.

Few times have been more meanspirited and fractious as our current era.

Our country is as, if not more, polarized and hurtful, than it was on Feb. 19, 1968 when Mister Rogers introduced us to his

KATHI WOLFE, a writer and a poet, is a regular contributor to the Blade.

Alert the National Weather Service!

Hell has frozen over. Republicans, Democrats, 80-somethings, millennials, LGBTQ people, straight folks, poets, Wall Street gurus – Attila the Hun (if he were still with us) – are all crying for the same reason.

What’s got so many tear ducts leaking?

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” a new documentary about Fred Rogers, the beloved host from 1968 to 2001 of the children’s TV show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

You likely have fond memories of Fred Rogers, who died at age 74 of cancer in 2003. If you’re like me, you may not remember how radical, how innovative “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” was for its or any time. I didn’t know until I saw “Won’t

You may not remember how radical, how innovative ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ was.

Rogers invited us all to be his neighbors.

He used puppets to help children deal with feelings that are hard to express.

After Bobby Kennedy was murdered, Mister Rogers told kids what assassination meant. Above all, Fred Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister, understood that, as he said, “love or the lack of it” is the root of everything. Because he didn’t want anyone to feel excluded, E DIT OR IA L C A R T OON

“Neighborhood.” Over the more than 30 years that his show ran, adults turned to Fred Rogers – seeking a way to explain sad, scary things from divorce to being in the hospital to our kids. He knew that tying your shoes or bathtub drains could scare tots. Young children watched Mister Rogers because he loved and listened to them even when other grown-ups from their parents to their teachers didn’t pay attention or talked down to them.

Today, when meanness is a prized form of cultural expression and kindness is ridiculed on Twitter, we’re flocking to see “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” directed by Morgan Neville, who directed the doc “20 Feet From Stardom” and co-directed “The Best of Enemies,” a documentary about Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr.’s feud.

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” reminds us that his “Neighborhood” was radically inclusive for its era. Rogers, a lifelong Republican, and Clemmons, on the show in 1969 shared a towel after dunking their feet in a swimming pool. (At that time, pools in the South were racially segregated.)

Grace Cavalieri was a colleague of Fred Rogers when she was associate director of children’s programming for PBS. Rogers was the same off-camera as he was on-camera, Cavalieri told the Blade. “You’d be having breakfast with him, and he wouldn’t eat a thing!” she said. “All the kids in the restaurant would come by. He’d talk to all of them.”

Clemmons couldn’t be openly gay while he was on Rogers’ show. At the time when the program aired, there’s no way that he could have been out. Yet, in a moving moment in the film, he speaks of how Rogers was a “spiritual father” to him.

No film, however touching, could mend the broken spirit of our time. Yet, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” shows us how resistance to cruelty can be waged through kindness and love.

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Coluzzi, Byrne for Rehoboth Beach Commission

Voters should finish job of moving town in a new direction

PETER ROSENSTEIN is a D.C.-based LGBT rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

Rehoboth Beach, Del. is a vibrant community. After last year’s contentious election its government is moving forward in the right direction and this year’s election on Aug. 11 gives voters the chance to keep it moving in the direction they voted for last year.

For the first time in 30 years, Rehoboth elected a new mayor, Paul Kuhns. Along with him voters elected Kathy McGuiness and Lisa Schlosser, both of whom are committed to ensuring changes were made making Rehoboth’s government more transparent and responsive to the people.

This year voters have the opportunity to elect two commissioners to join them and help keep those commitments. I have re-

viewed the three candidates’ platforms and asked each whether they are committed to working to continue the direction voters chose last year. Two, Pat Coluzzi and Richard Byrne are fully committed to doing that.

There are many concerns voters I spoke with are still raising. They like Main Street being revitalized and want the city to continue to give it strong support. They want more focus on issues relating to the still too many vacant storefronts in town. Some continue to ask why Rehoboth doesn’t have the effective marketing campaign other resorts do and why there is no social media campaign touting Rehoboth.

I have been coming to Rehoboth for over 35 years and have owned a home just outside of town for 20 years. What happens within the city limits of Rehoboth impacts all our lives, including the value of our homes. Having been involved in government and politics during my career it is evident the Commission should be starting the discussion regarding replacing the city manager. That individual is responsible for running the city on a day-to-day basis and should be spreading the word about it to others. They must motivate and direct all city employees. Rehoboth needs a dynamic individual to help modernize Rehoboth’s infrastructure, use staff effectively, and work collaboratively not only with the commission but with every segment of the community, as well as state and local government, to ensure Rehoboth

remains the vital beach community everyone living here and visiting wants it to be.

Pat Coluzzi served on the Commission from 2007 to 2013 and is committed to seeing the city move forward. Pat thinks creatively and knows how to bring people together. She began the implementation of the Bicycle Master Plan providing for more bike racks and safety signs on the roads. She instigated the plan for modernizing payment for parking with ParkMobile. She is the founder of the Rehoboth Beach Farmers’ Market and is a former Planning Commissioner. She has a proven record of working with both state and county legislators and identifying and pursuing grants for creative projects like providing solar energy for city buildings. Pat has a 30-year career in information technology and has owned property in Rehoboth since 1994. She and her partner have been full-time residents since 2002. She is committed to developing more public-private partnerships and says, “finding solutions to complex problems requires bringing together all segments of the community including individual business owners and longtime homeowners, the non-profit community and the Chamber of Commerce.”

Richard Byrne and his wife Sherri have been coming to Rehoboth for more than 25 years. They bought their home in 2002 and have lived in Rehoboth full time since 2009.

Dick has more than 30 years of experience in

education, running university extension programs in Maryland and Minnesota. Those programs required collaboration among citizens, volunteers, youth, community organizations and working with county and state agencies. Dick is currently president of the Sussex Family YMCA Board of Governors, a member of the Delaware YMCA Association Board of Directors, president of the Park Place Homeowners Association and immediate past vice president of the DE SPCA. He chairs the City of Rehoboth Beach Animal Issues Committee, serves on the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Trees, and chairs Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf’s RD Committee.

Dick understands the complex issues of ensuring both business owners and residential property owners can live in harmony. He said, “I want to ensure appropriate short- and long-range planning to preserve and maintain the uniqueness that has made the City of Rehoboth Beach so special for so many decades.” He supports “Rehoboth’s historic neighborhoods and residential housing, its parks, as well as its restaurants, thriving businesses, great theater, and mile-long boardwalk for residents and visitors alike.”

I urge the voters of Rehoboth Beach to complete the transformation they began last year with the election of Kuhns, McGuiness and Schlosser by electing Pat Coluzzi and Richard Byrne to join them on the Commission.

O UR B US I NES S MATTER S

The local left should embrace repeal of Initiative 77

Alienating one of largest worker groups not a formula for future support

MARK LEE is a long-time entrepreneur and community business advocate. Follow on Twitter: @MarkLeeDC. Reach him at OurBusinessMatters@gmail.com.

The D.C. ballot initiative voted on last month that would outlaw the tip-wage system is all but dead.

Last week a majority of D.C. Council members introduced a bill to repeal Initiative 77, filed the day after hundreds of tipped employees, alongside nightlife and hospitality co-workers and managers, visited them at their offices.

The “Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act” would set aside the surprisingly competitive election result on a proposal originally expected to win

by a wide margin. The measure instead passed by a differential of only five points, with fewer than 10 percent of registered voters casting a ballot in favor.

With several additional Council members expected to also vote for repeal, and with Mayor Bowser strongly opposing the proposal, its ultimate fate offers little suspense.

There will, of course, be an elaborate funeral in the fall when the D.C. Council returns from summer recess, highlighted by a marathon public hearing anticipated to run through the early morning hours and perhaps become the lengthiest in city history.

While the eventual outcome is predictive, scores of tipped bartenders and servers at many of the more than 1,700 bars, restaurants, and nightclubs will want to take the time to testify and throw their handful of dirt on the proposal’s grave.

The D.C. Council held a similar “show trial” on the tip-wage system in 2016, subsequently deciding to side with workers in order to protect tipped employee jobs, livelihoods, incomes, and their ability to remain residents of a city they love. Notably, a much higher percentage of tipped restaurant and bar employees are District residents than the overall workforce employed at D.C. businesses.

Tipped worker concerns about being

able to afford living in the city or surrounding metropolitan area if essentially transitioned to hourly wage compensation at a level far below their current actual and potential earning ability became a major theme in their pre-vote pleas.

If Initiative 77 is repealed, it will mark the fifth time that elected officials have set aside a ballot initiative in the relatively short history of Home Rule and scant number of publicly voted proposals. As a Washington Post editorial noted last weekend, “The home-rule charter fully empowers them to alter or eliminate Initiative 77, as they would any other statute.” The Post editorial board sided with repeal, saying, “we think that’s in the public interest … because it was a solution in search of a problem,” adding it was evident that many workers opposed the initiative.

Local tipped workers reflect the normative homogeneity of the District’s liberal political zeitgeist. Worker frustration, however, that liberals were not listening to them was the source of great anxiety for them. One D.C. bartender commented last week on Twitter, in reply to a thread of those fretting over Council repeal, “I have to get back behind my bar, while you argue over my livelihood.”

To not respect and support tipped workers would merely reinforce what they already fear: That local liberals are more enamored toward a preconceived political notion than willing to listen to those who will be harmed by a policy change.

To continue to do battle with workers tells them that the left believes complex and nuanced economic issues are simple, that co-working independent small business operators are corporate devils, that worker opinions don’t really matter, and that abstract policy prescriptions are more important than actual people directly affected.

That’s not a “good look” for so-called progressives, especially as all of the “further-left,” and Initiative-77-supporting, challenger candidates suffered defeat.

Despite angst by the far-left over repeal of the plebiscite, they should welcome and embrace retention of the current wage system.

Not only do an overwhelming majority of workers support existing law, and worked hard to educate voters about a misleadingly worded ballot initiative causing confusion over the issue, what sense is there in angering and alienating one of the largest groups of workers in the city?

There isn’t any.

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W A SH I N G T O N BLA D E . CO M

freersackler.si.edu @freersackler

Summer happenings For Love of Place

Japanese Screens New on view

The Peacock Encountering Room Comes the Buddha Art and Practice to America Across Asia

LEAD SPONSOR

Encountering the Buddha received Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. The Freer|Sackler is grateful for the contributions of University of Michigan Humanities Collaboratory and the Multidisciplinary Design Program.

S U MM ER I N TH E C ITY

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Summer’s second half

OUTWRITE BOOK FEST, 17TH STREET FESTIVAL, KASTLES NIGHT OUT AND MORE COMING SOON

By JOEY DIGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com

The annual 17th Street Festival will be Saturday, Aug. 25. These photos are from last year’s event.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

Let’s start with the bears. Now that Town is closed, several other venues have started Friday night bear happy hour events. It’s a long D.C. Friday evening tradition that goes back to DIK Bar and Titan.

Bear Happy Hour, which has been around about six years, is at the Rock & Roll Hotel (1353 H St., N.E.) is every Friday evening from 6-10 p.m. No cover. Details at bearnonsense.com.

WOOF! Happy Hour is every Friday from 5-11 p.m. at the D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) with free pizza at 7:30 p.m., no cover before 9:30 p.m. and drink specials. Details at dceagle.com.

Otter Happy Hour by TRADE and Otter Den is every Friday from 5-10 p.m. at TRADE (1410 14th St., N.W.). No cover.

Details at tradebardc.com.

D.C. Bear Crue’s Bear Happy Hour is every Friday evening from 5-10 p.m. at UPROAR Lounge and Restaurant (639 Florida Ave., N.W.). Details at dcbearcrue.com.

Other events of note throughout the summer include: • Drag Brunch is every Sunday from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.). Tickets are $45.21.

• The Shenandoah Valley Pride Festival is Saturday, July 21, from 2-8 p.m. In Court Square in Harrisonburg, Va. Details at shenandoahvalleypride.org.

• City Winery (1350 Okie St., N.E.)

has its Rooftop Vino and Vinyasa event featuring Ashley Binetti leading a 50-minute flow class on Saturday, July 21 from 10:30 a.m.-noon. Tickets are $15.

Details at citywinery.com.

• Lawyers for SMYAL is Wednesday, July 25 at 6:30 p.m. at 555 13th St., N.W. Tickets at app.etapestry.com.

• Night OUT at the Washington Kastles is Thursday, July 26 at 7 p.m. at the Charles E. Smith Center (600 22nd St., N.W.).

Prices vary. Details at groupmatics.events.

• Jay Z and Beyonce bring their On the Run Tour II to FedExField (1600 Fedex Way, Landover, Md.) July 27-28.

Tickets range from $49-770. Details at ticketmaster.com.

• DISTRIKT of Columbia has its BM 2018 Fundraiser on Saturday, July 28 at 8 p.m. at Flash (645 Florida Ave., N.W.). Tickets are $8-15 and available at ticketfly.com.

• Alan Cumming performs his cabaret show “Legal Immigrant” on Saturday, July 28 at 8 p.m. at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.). Tickets are $59-349 at kennedycenter.org.

• “The Ask Rayceen Show” is the first Wednesday of each month and has its next installment on Wednesday, Aug. 1 with a poetry slam. Look for the event on Facebook for details.

• OutWrite 2018, D.C.’s LGBT Literary Festival, is Aug. 3-5 mostly at the D.C.

Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) although the Laughing Out Loud kickoff event will be held at Ten Tigers Parlour (3813 Georgia Ave., N.W.) with Michelle Tea and Chelsea Shorte. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Full details on the festival at thedccenter.org.

• World of Rose on the Rooftop is Saturday, Aug. 4 at 2 p.m. at City Winery (1350 Okie St., N.E.) with Vanessa Phillips leading patrons through a sampling of 50 rose samples. Tickets are $45. Details at citywinery.com.

• Taste of Studio is Saturday, Aug. 4 at 11 a.m. at Studio Theatre (1501 14th St., N.W.) offering art, culture and culinary excellence under one roof. Tickets start at $50. Details at studiotheatre.org.

• Distrkt C’s Rehoboth Beach weekend party is Aug. 4-5. Deborah Cox will perform on Saturday, Aug. 4 at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. Various passes and packages are available. Details at distrktc.ticketspice.com.

• Sistas Who Travel will host a drag brunch on Saturday, Aug. 11 from 11 a.m.3 p.m. at Dirty Martini (1223 Connecticut Ave., N.W.). Tickets are $40. Look for the event on Facebook for details.

• Distrkt C Winter White party is Saturday, Aug. 11 at the D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) with Twisted Dee Martello. Tickets are $20. Details

at distrktc.ticketspice.com.

• Shakira brings her “El Dorado World Tour” to Capital One Arena (601 F St., N.W.) on Saturday, Aug. 11. CHCK PRICES. Details at ticketmaster.com.

• The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington has its Summer Restaurant Week Aug. 13-19.

Details and participating restaurants at rwdmv.com.

• “Express Yourself! Madonna’s 60th Birthday Flow” is Thursday, Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. at 405 Yoga D.C. (1000 Florida Ave., N.W.).

Tickets at clients.mindbodyonline.com.

• The LGBT Biz Pitch Competition from the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce is Friday, Aug. 17 at 11:30 a.m. at the chamber (729 15th St., N.W.). Details at nglcc.org.

• BARE (every third Saturday) has its ninth annual White Party on Saturday, Aug. 18 at 10 p.m. at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.). Wear white. Look for the event on Facebook for details.

• “Hard Paint (Tinta Bruta)” screens on Friday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. at HRC Headquarters (1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.) from Reel Affirmations. Details at reelaffirmations.org.

• The 17th Street Festival is Saturday, Aug. 25 from noon-6 p.m. on the 15001600 blocks of 17th Street. Look for the event on Facebook for details.

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SU MME R I N T H E CI T Y

Summertime cinema sensations

KUBRICK, CLOONEY, ‘BLACK PANTHER,’ ‘WONDER WOMAN’ AND MORE AMONG SUMMER SCREENINGS

BY MARIAH COOPER By mcooper@washblade.com Prevent the summer doldrums by escaping to the magical world of cinema over the next couple of months. Lay out on a blanket and have a picnic under the stars at an outdoor screening or take advantage of a screening in an airconditioned theater. Either way, there are plenty of films ranging from classic films to recently released blockbusters to choose from that can be enjoyed for free or a low cost.

AFI Silver (8663 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring, Md.) holds a few film series honoring various actors and directors. The theater holds a retrospective on director Stanley Kubrick running through Sept. 12.

Films on rotation include “A Clockwork Orange,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “The Shining” and more.

This year, AFI honored George Clooney with its 46th Life Achievement Award.

Clooney’s films such as “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” will be shown until Sept. 12. AFI is also recognizing the work of late actor William Holden with screenings such as “Sabrina,” “Sunset Blvd.” and “The Wild Bunch” running until Sept. 12. Tickets range from $8-13. For a complete list of films, visit silver.afi.com.

Bethesda Outdoor Movie Series returns to Bethesda’s Woodmont Triangle (Norfolk and Auburn Ave., Bethesda, Md.) starting July 24 with a screening of “Remember the Titans.” Other screenings will include “Casablanca” (July 25), “The Big Sick” (July 26), “Mean Girls” (July 27) and “The Post” (July 28).

Admission is free and all screenings begin at 9 p.m. Visit bethesda.org for details.

Comcast Outdoor Film Festival, a free family film festival, takes place at Strathmore (10701 Rockville Pike., North Bethesda, Md.) Aug. 23-26. Screenings planned are “Coco” (Aug. 23), “Black Panther” (Aug. 24), “The Lion King” (Aug. 25) and “Wonder Woman” (Aug. 26). Concessions, which includes popcorn and other snacks, opens at 7:30 p.m. each night. Film screenings begin at dusk (around 8:30 p.m.). The festival benefits the NIH Children’s Charities. For more information, visit filmfestnih.org.

Congressional Cemetery (1801 E St.,

Golden Cinema at Farragut Square will screen ‘Jumanji,’ ‘Casablanca’ and ‘Black Panther’ this summer.

PHOTO COURTESY GOLDEN CINEMA

S.E.) has its film series Cinematery until Sept. 14. “Jurassic Park” screens on July 20. There will be a Cinematery VIP Tour for this screening at 7 p.m. Attendees will receive a one-hour guided tour featuring stops at the graves of notable inventors and innovators. Tickets are $25 and include the tour, two drink tickets and the film screening. “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” also screens on Aug. 17 and “The Sixth Sense” on Sept.

14. All screenings are BYOB and food.

There is a suggested $10, cash-only donation. For more information, visit congressionalcemetery.org.

Golden Cinema at Farragut Square (912 17th St., N.W.) shows a mix of blockbusters and classics this summer with “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” on July 20, “Casablanca” on July 27 and “Black Panther” on Aug. 3. All movies begin at sunset. Free admission. For details, visit goldentriangledc.com/ golden-cinema-2018.

Georgetown Sunset Cinema (1000 Potomac St., N.W.) presents its 2018 film series “Movies That Rock” featuring films that include a musical storyline.

The lineup includes “Footloose” (July 24), “Dreamgirls” (July 31) and “Grease” (Aug. 7). Screenings begin at sunset (around 8:30-8:45 p.m.). Visit georgetowndc.com/ sunset-cinema for more information.

Movies at Chinatown Park (5th and I Street N.W) presents Asian and Pacific Islander-themed films for free. “Life of Pi” screens on Aug. 15 and “Kung Fu Panda” screens on Sept. 21. The “Kung Fu Panda” screening will also include arts and crafts, family-friendly actives and snacks. All screenings will offer free popcorn and popsicles. For more information, search “Movies at Chinatown Park” on Eventbrite.

Library of Congress (101 Independence Ave, S.E.) hosts Summer Movies on the Lawn on the north lawn of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building through Aug. 16. “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” is July 26, “Back to the Future” screens on Aug. 2, “Superman” (1978) is Aug. 9 and “The Wizard of Oz” is Aug. 16. Films begin at sunset. Admission is free. For details, visit loc.gov.

NoMa Summer Screen presents films under the theme “Wonder Women,” focusing on movies with strong female leads. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is July 25. There will be free bags of popcorn while supplies last. “Pitch Perfect” is Aug. 1. Free popcorn while supplies last. “Moana” is Aug. 8. Children will receive free popsicles while supplies last. “Thelma & Louise” (Aug. 15), “Ghostbusters” (Aug. 22) and “Wonder Woman” (Aug. 29) will also screen. Food trucks will be on site for all film showings.

For more information, visit nomabid.org.

Smithsonian American Art Museum (9th & G Streets N.W.) celebrates the 50th anniversary of director Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” in the McEvoy Auditorium on July 21 at 3 p.m.

Abraham Thomas, the Fleur and Charles Bresler curator-in-charge of the Renwick Gallery, will lead a discussion of the film’s design and impact on American culture.

A screening of the movie will follow. No ticket required. The museum also screens director Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” in the McEvoy Auditorium on July 28 at 3 p.m. Dan Perri, the film’s title designer and artistic consultant, will host a postfilm discussion on how he used the film’s design to send a message on the film’s larger themes. Admission is free and no ticket is required. Both films are part of the museum’s Movies at SAAM series. For more information, visit facebook.com/pg/ americanart/events.

Union Market Drive-In (1309 5th St., N.E.) presents the Marvel blockbuster “Black Panther” on Aug. 3 from 8:45-11 p.m. The lot opens at 6 p.m. and closes at 8:15 p.m. On Sept 7, “The Lion King” screens from 8-9:30 p.m. The lot opens at 6 p.m. and closes at 7:30 p.m. There is a $10 parking fee per car. Walk-up customers are free. For more details, visit unionmarketdc.com.

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Beat the heat, chill with great art BAS EBALL-, HAMILTON- AND OPRAH-THEMED EXHIBITS AMONG REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

By ABBY WARGO Looking for cool ways to beat the heat without leaving D.C.? Washington boasts nearly 80 museums located throughout the city. They’re a cheap way — most admission prices range from free to $30 — to spend a day inside learning about new topics and enjoying pieces of art and culture. The collections are constantly changing and new exhibits ensure that every trip is a one-of-a-kind experience.

The D.C. Center’s Center Arts Gallery (2000 14th St., N.W.) presents its new installation “RoopKotha,” a compilation of pictures, memorabilia and installation that narrates the story of Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, two Bangaldeshi LGBT activists. They were murdered in 2016 and the Bangladeshi government has failed to investigate the case. The exhibition has traveled around the world and will continue to exhibit until the murderers are brought to justice. The exhibition begins July 21. For more information, visit thedccenter.org/ centerartsgallery.

The Wentworth Gallery (7101 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda, Md. and 1807 Galleria at Tysons II, McLean, Va.) is exhibiting Charles Fazzino’s Major League Baseball official commemorative artwork.

The collection consists of original artwork, limited-edition prints on both paper and aluminum, and hand-painted baseballs and home plates. It is both on exhibition and available for purchase. Fazzino, a 3-D pop artist, uses bright colors and detail to construct lithographs and serigraphs that are finished with either acrylic or glitter paint. For more details, visit wentworthgallery.com.

The National Gallery of Art (6th and Constitution Ave., N.W.) presents “Sense of Humor,” an exhibition of comedic art, on the ground floor of the West Building. Although humorous painting and sculpture is limited, prints and drawings comprise many of the pieces in the exhibit. It spans time and genre, with works like Renaissance caricatures, English satires and comics from the 20th century and featuring artists like Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Francisco Goya, Art Spiegelman and the Guerrilla Girls.

Admission is free. The exhibition runs from July 15-Jan. 6. For more information, visit nga.gov.

National Geographic Museum (1145

‘ALL START GAME’ by Charles Fazzino is available for purchase at the Wentworth Gallery.

PHOTO COURTESY WENTWORTH

17th St., N.W.) presents “Titanic: the Untold Story” through Jan. 6. The exhibit explores the link between a top-secret Cold War mission and the 1985 discovery of the sunken steamship Titanic. Artifacts like a coat worn by a survivor of the shipwreck are combined with items like the 8,000-pound crew module that was used to survey the shipwreck to create an extensive exhibition. Tickets are $15; for seniors, students, and military members, $12; and for children ages 5-12, $10.

Annual pass members and children under 5 are free. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com.

The National Postal Museum (2 Massachusetts Ave., N.E.) presents “Alexander Hamilton: Soldier, Secretary, Icon” until 2019. The exhibit explores Hamilton’s life through original mail that he sent and signed. Hamilton was the first secretary of the treasury, and frequently used the Post Office Department in his role. The exhibit also features portraits of Hamilton and his contemporaries on postage and revenue stamps. The original dueling pistols used by Hamilton and

Aaron Burr in the 1804 duel that resulted in Hamilton’s death will be on display until Sept. 16. This is the first time they have been displayed in D.C. Admission to the museum is free. For more information, visit postalmuseum.si.edu.

The National Museum of AfricanAmerican History and Culture (1400 Constitution Ave., N.W.) presents “Watching Oprah: the Oprah Winfrey Show and American Culture.” The exhibit, open until June 2019, explores Winfrey’s story and her impact through her many roles — talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist — and how her success highlights the struggles and triumphs of African-American women throughout history. The exhibition features artifacts from Harpo Studio where “The Oprah Winfrey Show” aired for more than two decades, items from Winfrey’s personal collection, photos and video.

The collection is separated into three sections, “America Shapes Oprah,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Oprah Shapes America.” The museum offers free timed passes for entry, which can be reserved

at etix.com. For more information, visit nmaahc.si.edu.

The Freer | Sackler Gallery (1050 Independence Ave., S.W.) presents “Subodh Gupta: Terminal” through Feb. 3 in the Sackler pavilion. Subodh Gupta, an Indian artist, transforms ordinary household objects into artistic structures.

“Terminal,” a readymade installation made of towers of glass containers connected by a web of thread. The spires range from one-15 feet tall and echo architectural design often seen on religious buildings. “A Perfect Harmony: American Art” is in galleries 10-11; works

by Charles Lang Freer are featured in “The Power to See Beauty” in gallery nine; and “The Peacock Room Comes to America” is in Gallery 12. Admission is free. For more information, visit freersackler.si.edu.

The Art Museum of the Americas (201 18th St., N.W.) presents “Art of the Americas: Collection of the Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States” through Oct. 28. The exhibition, which accompanies a book of the same name, takes a comprehensive look at the cultural and historical legacy of the AMA and the Organization of the American States through new research on 100 pieces in the collection. Admission is free. For more information, visit museum. oas.org.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts (1250 New York Ave., N.W.) hosts “Heavy Metal,” the fifth installment in the museum’s “Women to Watch” series, which highlights contemporary women artists who work with metal. The artists explore the physical properties and artistic possibilities of metalwork through a variety of objects such as sculpture and jewelry. The pieces in the exhibit range from large installations to small trinkets made from iron, steel, bronze, silver, gold, brass, tin, aluminum, copper and pewter. The exhibition’s goal is to shift the masculine focus on metalworking and prove that contemporary women artists also make significant contributions to the field. Regular admission is $10; $8 for visitors 65 and older and students and free for NMWA members and children 18 years and younger. For more information, visit nmwa.org.

■ CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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SU MME R I N T H E CI T Y

Page turners for the beach or pool ‘LOVE, SIMON’ SEQUEL, ‘SODOM ROAD EXIT’ AMONG 2018 BOOK DELIGHTS

By GRACE PERRY

Stuck in the summer doldrums? Here are some of the best LGBT books from 2018 to pull you out.

If you loved this spring’s blockbuster, “Love, Simon,” you should read its sequel, “Leah on the Offbeat,” (April; 368 pg.) in which author Becky Albertalli offers readers a deep dive into Simon’s best friend Leah, as she struggles with her body image, selfesteem and sexuality. On top of her personal issues, her tight-knit group of friends also starts to fracture, and things get even more complicated when Leah realizes she may like one of her friends as more than just a friend.

In “Let’s Talk About Love” (January; 308 pg.), Claire Kann tackles the stigma and misunderstanding faced by the asexual community. Kann tells the story of Alice — a college student who’s heartbroken and done with dating after her girlfriend breaks up with her after finding out she’s asexual. However, Alice is forced to revisit her prior condemnation of love when she meets Takumi, a boy who gives her butterflies in her stomach again.

“Sodom Road Exit” (April; 404 pg.), the second novel by Lambda Literary Award winner Amber Dawn, explores Starla Martin’s confrontation with the unresolved traumas of her past after she

drops out of college and returns home to Crystal Beach and an overbearing mother. Though the novel may appear at first like a conventional paranormal thriller, “Sodom Road Exit” is far from it.

Featuring a queer ghost story, motherdaughter complexities and authentic, raw portrayals of mental illness, the novel brings nuance to the horror genre.

Camille Perri, author of “The Assistants,” tackles the pervasive societal taboo surrounding female pleasure in her new book “When Katie Met Cassidy” (June; 272 pg.). Katie has her life together; between her wonderful fiancé and successful law career in New York City, she is proud of the person she’s become since leaving her hometown in Kentucky.

However, her entire world is turned on its head when her fiancé leaves her and she subsequently agrees to a drink with Cassidy, one of her coworkers. She and Cassidy quickly form a relationship that calls into question everything Katie thought she knew about sex and love.

In her debut novel, “Little Fish,” (May; 320 pg.) Lambda Literary Award-winner Casey Plett tells the story of Wendy Reimer, a 30-year-old trans woman who comes across evidence that her

grandfather may have been trans too. At first, Wendy sets this revelation aside, but as her life continues to unravel, she turns to her grandfather’s story and becomes determined to reveal the truth.

Uzodinma Iweala takes you into the complicated life of a privileged boy forced to live in the closet in “Speak No Evil” (March; 207 pg.). Set in Washington, D.C., Niru lives a charmed life by most standards; he has attentive parents, attends a prestigious private school and is all set to attend Harvard in the fall.

However, he has been forced to remain in the closet for fear of rejection by his Nigerian parents. Unfortunately, his parents eventually discover his secret and the fallout is brutal. The story traces Niru’s journey as he attempts to regain control of his life and redirect his future.

Jordy Rosenberg queers a historical figure — notorious English thief Jack Sheppard — in his new novel, “Confessions of a Fox” (June; 352 pg.).

The book chronicles the journey of Dr. Voth, a trans college professor, who turns up a previously undiscovered biography of Sheppard, which reveals that he was also trans. The biography further details Sheppard’s life including his love affair

with a sex worker and criminal history but also his liberation, self-discovery and coming of age. Set in 18th century London, “Confessions of a Fox” reimagines the infamous Jack Sheppard and tells the story of queer love and liberation.

“Paper is White” (February; 318 pg.) tells a familiar tale — a queer wedding with a snag — with an unfamiliar twist. Set in the 1990s in the Bay Area, Ellen and her girlfriend decide to get married, but Ellen realizes she can’t get married without first telling her grandmother. Only problem is, her grandmother is dead. In her debut novel, Hilary Zaid explores the dilemma between looking back at the past and setting forward into the future.

If you believe you’ve seen everything worth seeing in D.C., think again. With her new book, “111 Places in Washington That You Must Not Miss,” (June; 240 pg.)

Andrea Seiger invites tourists and locals alike to discover often overlooked District gems. Having lived in D.C. for the last 30 years, Seiger brings an expertise and passion to the book only a resident could.

This off-the-beaten-path guide will offer new places to explore in the final month of summer and even more reasons to love the city.

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Fringe Festival, cabaret series among summer theater offerings ‘THE COLOR PURPLE’ RETURNS TO KENNEDY CENTER; S YNETIC TACKLES ‘OZ’

By PATRICK FOLLIARD Not going anywhere anytime soon?

Why not make theater a part of your summer in the city?

Following its tradition of big summer musicals, The Kennedy Center presents “The Color Purple” July 30-Aug. 26. Adapted from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the national tour of the Tony Awardwinning Broadway revival production recounts the sometimes heartbreaking but ultimately triumphant rise of an AfricanAmerican woman in the American South.

Details at kennedy-center.org.

Also, at the Kennedy Center, out actor Alan Cumming brings his inimitable blend of style, storytelling and activism with “Legal Immigrant,” July 28. Cumming promises a cabaret of songs and stories about his life and loves in his adopted homeland. The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington joins him for the performance.

Details at kennedy-center.org.

Summer Cabaret Series at Creative Cauldron (410 South Maple Avenue, Falls Church, Va.) features a lineup of terrific performers including the fabulous Jade Jones with “Killin’ Em Softly: A ’70s Soiree,” July 20-21; and out actor Stephen Gregory Smith traces his relationship with composer Matt Conner in “Inspired By” Sept. 7-8. Full details at creativecauldron.org.

At Signature Theatre (4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, Va.), Sizzlin’ Summer Nights Cabaret Series rolls on with an impressive roster of singers including Erin Driscoll.

With Ladies’ Night, July 26, the Helen Hayes Award-winning Driscoll celebrates the female songwriters of Broadway from Golden Age to contemporary songs, including women such as Dorothy Fields, Betty Comden, Jeanine Tesori. Full details at sigtheatre.org.

For a wild time, catch Astro Pop Events’ third annual “America The Game Show.

F*ck Yeah!” July 21 at GALA Hispanic Theatre (3333 14th St., N.W.) and July 2728 at Baltimore’s Creative Alliance (3134 Eastern Ave, Baltimore).

Inspired by TV’s “The Price Is Right” but with a subversive and sexy twist, the show is 90 minutes of outrageous games dealing

Host CARLOS BUSTAMANTE makes sure everybody wins in ‘America the Game Show.’

PHOTO BY STEREOVISION PHOTOGRAPHY

with fracking, immigration and reproductive rights. A favorite game from last year’s show was called “Grab That Pussy!” which consisted of using tiny fake hands to toss stuffed kittens into holes cut from the folds of a drag queen’s voluminous skirt. “‘Game Show’ has morphed over the years,” says director Kate Taylor Davis.

“When we started it was the summer before the election. We assumed Hilary Clinton would be our next president. We were optimistic. The show was lot of goofy Americana with a political undercurrent.

The second year that changed.

It’s become more political, an expression of our frustrations. Our way of dealing with the madness is to poke fun and still try to find a way to love the country despite what’s happening now.”

Included in the shows cast are local performer Carlos Bustamante as cocksure emcee Carl who “embodies the quintessential American spirit by being supremely confident in his own self-worth and value.” The cast also includes out actors Chris Griffin (best known for his alt drag, oddly comical persona Lucrezia Blozia) as Liberty who stands seven feet tall in her glitter boots, and local actor Patrick M. Doneghy as Justice, a superhero who might have walked out of the D.C. Eagle.

Both Justice and Liberty facilitate audience participation in the show’s games.

“We look forward to doing this every

summer. I don’t know what we’d do for fun otherwise,” says Davis who helms the production with set designer Jared Davis.

“It’s important for us to do a quirky, lowbrow, subversive thing. We think D.C. needs it.” Full details at astropopevents.com Through July 29, Capital Fringe Festival 2018 offers a selection of Fringe theater, music, art, dance and unclassifiable forms of live performance. Many are of special interest to LGBT audiences — just a few of those are listed below. For a complete list of shows, times, and venues, go to capitalfringe.org.

There’s still time to catch Jamie Brickhouse’s comedy solo performance “Dangerous When Wet: Booze, Sex & My Mother,” July 21 and 24 at Saint Augustine’s Episcopal Church: Gold (555 Water St., S.W.) Capital Fringe’s website describes it best: “Sodomite Jamie Brickhouse’s alcoholic odyssey from small-town sissy to louche Manhattanite is wickedly intoxicating as he hits bottom and discovers he can’t escape the allconsuming love of his Texas tornado of a mother, Mama Jean. Darkly comic, you’ll cry laughing.”

Also, Three Muses (Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., S.W.) presents “God is Dead and April’s Getting Married,” July 21, 22, 28, 29. Penned by A.A. Brenner, the dramedy explores queerness, religion and friendship while asking if people ever truly change.

And Caitlin M. Capliner’s “Riot Brrrain,” July 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, at Blind Whino: Turquoise (700 Delaware Ave., S.W.) is an adults only musical comedy about neurosyphilis.

“Ghosts” from Muse Theatre Productions by Elford Alley is about a mysterious device that allows communication with the dead. It runs July 21-29 at Blind Whino: Yellow (700 Delaware Ave., S.W.). It’s the only horror/ sci-fi show in this year’s festival and features LGBT personnel.

Fringe is fun but not always for kids. If children figure into your summer plans, there are options.

Synetic Theatre (now at Devine Theater located in the Davis Performing Arts Center on the Georgetown University campus) presents “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” through Aug. 12. Of course, the innovative movement-based company puts a spin on the 20th century, L. Frank Baum favorite. Producing director Paata Tsikurishvili, director Ryan Sellers and choreographer Tori Bertocci create an environmental and spectacular adventure where verbal and nonverbal communication come together. Helen Hayes Award-winning out actor Philip Fletcher plays the Tin Man in search of a heart. Details at synetictheatre.org.

At Imagination Stage (4908 Auburn Ave, Bethesda) it’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” through Aug. 12. Based on the comic strip “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz, the delightful Off-Broadway musical hit about childhood angst is staged by local acclaimed director Aaron Posner who’s usually found directing quality stuff for grownups. Details at imaginationstage.org.

And in Glen Echo Park, Md., Adventure Theatre MTC presents “Tinker Bell” through Aug. 19. Adapted by Patrick Flynn, it’s the Peter Pan story from the twinkly fairy’s point of view. Staged by out director Nick Olcott, the company’s summer fun show features a diverse cast led by Michelle Polera in the title role and Carlos Castillo as Peter Pan. Details at adventuretheatre-mtc.org.

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Reporter JOHN S. ADAMS in the Montana Capitol building in a scene from ‘Dark Money.’

PHOTO COURTESY PBS DISTRIBUTION

Her Reed on ‘Dark Money’ Trans filmmaker gets political with latest documentary

By BRIAN T. CARNEY Trans artist and activist Kimberly Reed is in the middle of an amazing career. Her latest documentary “Dark Money” premiered to great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year (and opens in Washington this week) and her latest opera “Today It Rains” will premiere next spring.

Although Reed didn’t realize it at the time, “Dark Money” was born on Jan. 10, 2010 when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Citizens

United case.

“It just didn’t make any sense to me,” she says, “that corporations are people and money is speech and therefore corporations can give unlimited money to campaigns. I am very skeptical of slippery slope arguments, but you could just see how more and more money was going to be consolidated in the hands of fewer and fewer people who were richer and richer and that the voice of the everyday citizen was going to get drowned out. And

that is what has happened.”

“Dark Money” opens exclusively on Friday, July 20 at Landmark E Street Cinema (555 11th St., N.W.). Filmmaker Kimberly Reed will appear for Q&As after the 7:30 p.m. show on Friday and the 1:30 p.m. show on Saturday. Tickets at landmarktheatres.com.

Like the majority of Americans, Reed was outraged by the decision, but she didn’t know how to make a film about such an abstract and complex issue.

She then learned that her home state of Montana was leading the charge for campaign finance reform.

Reed started following Attorney General Steve Bullock as he defended Montana’s century-old campaign finance laws against Citizens United, first in the Montana Supreme Court (where he won) and then in the U.S. Supreme Court (where he lost).

CONTINUES ON PAGE 41

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Q U E E RY : 2 0 Q U E ST I O N S F O R MA RK H U N KE R

MARK HU NK E R How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?

I have been out a very long time, mostly since going to culinary school and to a few close friends and my mom as I left high school. My dad, who was a cop in New York, was the hardest to tell, but it wound up being a lot of worrying for nothing.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com July 20 is a big day for Duplex Diner (2004 18th St., N.W.) as the beloved D.C. gay institution celebrates its 20th anniversary.

DJ Chord, one of the original DJs, will return with surprise guests, a drag performance, drink specials and more. An ’80s party is planned for Saturday, July 21 with DJs Khelan and Adam. Or stop by anytime on Sunday, July 22 for a 20th anniversary brunch celebration going on all day. Full details at duplexdiner.com.

Mark Hunker splits his working life as co-owner of JAM Holdings (which includes Duplex Diner, Red White & Basil and two Delaware restaurants) and Victor42, an IT defense contracting firm. He went to Duplex on its second day of operation and quickly became a regular. Though not the original owners, he and co-owner Jeff McCracken were Thursday regulars and watched it evolve over time. They bought the business in 2014.

“It’s where I grew up, met lifelong friends and dated,” Hunker says. He and husband Jeff Shields Hunker were married there in 2010.

Hunker and McCracken plan the menus, drinks lists, designs and social media of their four restaurants. Kelly Lascko oversees the day-to-day operations. There are 27 on staff including Jesse Tyler and Nico Mendez, who’ve been there the whole 20 years. Just shy of them at 19 years are Nicole Parisi, Kate Gibbs and Salvador Blanco.

“It was the right place at the right time,” the 52-year-old Bronx native says.

“You went there to be yourself and to let your hair down without fear. It was a judgment-free zone where you enjoyed a burger, pickles and fries and learned to love vodka.”

Hunker came to Washington almost 30 years ago with family and to attend the University of Maryland. His family, including 12-year-old daughter Samantha, split their time between Adams Morgan and Rehoboth Beach, Del. Hunker enjoys sports, cooking, reading and the beach in his free time.

Serving Our Community for 35 years

a d v i C e • m e d iat i o N • L i t i G at i o N • a P P e a L S • C o L L a B o r at i o N

FamiLY | eState PLaNNiNG | emPLoYmeNt | immiGratioN ComPLeX LitiGatioN | CiviL riGHtS | LGBt | adoPtioN | BuSiNeSS

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at tor N e YS at L aw • d C | m d | va

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Who’s your LGBT hero?

Harvey Milk has always been a hero for me. I was old enough to know why he was murdered and grew up to learn that his words and actions opened the doors for a future career in politics for me.

What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present?

The Duplex Diner on a Thursday night. And if I had a time machine, Tracks still holds a special place in my heart.

Describe your dream wedding.

I had a dream wedding in Rehoboth.

About 130 family and friends from all over the country came to watch us get married at JAM Bistro under a chuppah by a local rabbi and then we had a loud party across the street at Eden Restaurant. Our daughter was our flower girl, we had a first dance, dances with parents, we were lifted on chairs and cut the cake. An amazing sign of how things have really changed — my husband who was raised Catholic had all five of his siblings and all 10 nieces and nephews attend.

What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?

Gun violence, especial in schools. As a parent you worry every day when you drop her off at school.

What historical outcome would you change?

Besides the Holocaust, Trump’s election in 2016. I have worked in democratic politics for many years and was an appointee for all eight years in the Clinton administration.

I know what solid leadership looks like and I know policies and law can be written that benefit the many, and I know the consequences to the country when they are written for the few.

What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime?

I have two: The March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation in Washington on April 25, 1993. The Inaugural Display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall in on October 11, 1987.

On what do you insist?

Paramount for me are loyalty and respect.

Giving and getting. But a nice car, designer sunglasses and good shoes don’t hurt.

What was your last Facebook post or Tweet? @realDonaldTrump hey loser, those crowds in London were way, way bigger than your inauguration!! So much bigger!

If your life were a book, what would the title be?

“Can You Believe This Is My Life?”

If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?

Nothing. I am who I was meant to be.

What do you believe in beyond the physical world?

I believe there is something out there after we are done here. I don’t have a name for it nor can I visualize it. As I get older I give more credence to the thought or hope of more than the physical.

What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?

Stay awake and don’t panic! Do what got us here. Talk to people’s humanity and focus locally. Start at the local level of politics and policy and build it solidly from there.

What would you walk across hot coals for?

My daughter. Full stop.

What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?

That we don’t like sports. Those who foster this stereotype should come to the Duplex on a Saturday or Sunday and see how many fans and followers of the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and the NCAA we have.

What’s your favorite LGBT movie?

Tie: “My Own Private Idaho” and “Beautiful Thing” What’s the most overrated social custom?

Seniority. A lot of really good ideas and strong leaders are missed along the way waiting for them to climb through the ranks.

What trophy or prize do you most covet?

A Michelin star.

What do you wish you’d known at 18?

That the life I currently have was possible.

That acceptance in the workplace and community would happen, best friends would be made and kept, becoming a father would be an option and being married to someone would be old hat.

Why Washington?

I came here to do what I needed to do, finish college and work in politics. I stay because it’s home. I’m a New Yorker and you know how we can be about our city, but Washington is my city now. It’s where my friends are, my passions are and most of all it’s where the people I love are.

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SUMMER

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A CELEBRATION NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MISTY COPELAND, TONY YAZBECK, GEORGE TAKEI, THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER & TAKE 6, CHORAL ARTS A KAY SHOUSE GREAT PERFORMANCE

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A RT S & CU LT U RE

This Week in the Arts provided by CultureCapital.com DANCE Heart Stück Bernie. Jul 21-Jul 22.

Dance Place. danceplace.org.

Jane Franklin Dance at Lubber Run. Jul 22. Arlington Cultural Affairs at Lubber Run. arlingtonarts.org.

Up your aesthetic. Jul 22-Jul 29.

Capital Fringe at Blind Whino. capitalfringe.org.

MUSIC Sizzlin’ Summer with Bob McDonald: Best of Bob Jul 21. Signature Theatre. sigtheatre.org.

Celebrating ten years of cabarets at Signature, renowned Washington Capitals anthem singer Bob McDonald is back with this greatest hit program that pays homage to the celebrated crooners and classic Broadway, pop & country artists who have inspired his eclectic career.

Capital Fringe Through July 29. capitalfringe.org.

Final Weekend of Capital Fringe with 60 shows presented on 11 different stages. Audiences will have the chance to engage, contemplate or just let loose with an exciting month of music, art, theatre and dance.

Twilight & Tipple Tuesday Tours!

Jul 24-Oct 23. Woodlawn and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House. woodlawnpopeleighey.org.

Our new tour series is a rare chance to see one of Wright’s houses illuminated against a night sky, bringing a whole new dimension and radiance to the typical tour experience. We only offer a few tours a year in the evening, so seize this great opportunity today!

LOC Movies on the Lawn: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Jul 26. Library of Congress. loc.gov.

A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home world. Moviegoers are welcome to bring picnics, and a selection of food trucks will be invited to park along East Capitol Street so that attendees can purchase food and beverages.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SIGNATURE THEATRE

THEATRE Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations. Thru Jul 22. The Second City Training Center: Intro to Improv Fundamentals. Jul 21-Jul 22.

Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org.

Damned If You Do. Thru Jul 29. Woolly Mammoth. woollymammoth.net.

Irish Twist on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Jul 25Aug 12. Quotidian Theatre Company at Old Round House Theater. quotidiantheatre.org.

On The Town. Thru Jul 22. The Pirates of Penzance. Thru Aug 17. H.M.S. Pinafore. Jul 21-Aug 19. Olney Theatre.

olneytheatre.org.

Sizzlin’ Summer with Monumental Theatre: Flip Flop - A Miscast Cabaret. Jul 22. Signature Theatre. sigtheatre.org.

Sizzlin’ Summer with Nova Y. Payton and Mark G. Meadows: Hotter than July. Jul 22. Signature Theatre. sigtheatre.org.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Thru Jul 21. Theatre Lab. theatrelab.org.

The Secrets of the Universe (and Other Songs). Thru Jul 29. JCCNV at New School. jccnv.org.

20/20: Double Vision Opening Reception & performance by Chris Urquiaga. Jul 20. Dupont Underground. dupontunderground.org.

An Evening with Al Stewart. Jul 20.

AMP. ampbystrathmore.com.

Carpe Diem-Revels Community Sing.

Jul 21. Seekers Church at Washington Revels.

Cheik Hamala Diabate at Lubber Run. Jul 20. The Fuss at Lubber Run. Jul 21. Arlington Cultural Affairs at Lubber Run. arlingtonarts.org.

HumanitiesDC Celebrates!. Jul 25.

HumanitiesDC at Art Museum of the Americas | Organization of American States. humanitiesdc.org.

Jaws in Concert. Jul 21. NSO at Wolf Trap. kennedy-center.org.

Jazz in the Garden: Dave Chappell.

Jul 20. National Gallery of Art. nga.gov.

Live from the Lawn: The Rad Trads.

Jul 25. Strathmore. strathmore.org.

Queen Latifah and Common. Jul 20. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit with Hiss Golden Messenger. Jul 24.

Charlie Puth The Voicenotes Tour with Hailee Steinfeld. Jul 25. Wolf Trap. wolftrap.org.

Sizzlin’ Summer with Nova Y. Payton and Mark G. Meadows: Hotter than July. Jul 25. Signature Theatre. sigtheatre.org.

Sizzlin’ Summer with Rochelle Rice. Jul 20. Sizzlin’ Summer Nights: Mason Cabaret - An Evening with Stephen Sondheim. Jul 20. Sizzlin’ Summer with Awa Sal Secka: Soul Summer. Jul 24. Sizzlin’ Summer with Erin Driscoll: Ladies’ Night. Jul 26.

Signature Theatre. sigtheatre.org.

Summer Choral Institute. Jul 20.

National Philharmonic. Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center at Montgomery College. nationalphilharmonic.org.

Summer Concert Series: Sizzlin’ Salsa. Jul 21. BlackRock. blackrockcenter.org.

Summer Concert: Real Live Jazz Quartet. Jul 26. Glen Echo Park. glenechopark.org.

Summer Concerts on the Lawn:

Chelsey Green. Jul 26. Library of Congress at Library of Congress North Lawn. loc.gov.

MUSEUMS Dumbarton Oaks. Outside/IN: Martha Jackson Jarvis at Dumbarton Oaks.

Thru Aug 19. doaks.org.

Folger Shakespeare Library. Form & Function: The Genius of the Book. Thru Sep 23. folger.edu.

Kreeger Museum. Second Nature: Portuguese Contemporary Art from the EDP Foundation Collection. Thru Jul 31. kreegermuseum.org.

Library of Congress. Letters to Lyrics: Alexander Hamilton at the Library of Congress. Thru Aug 21. Baseball Americana. Thru Jun 29. loc.gov.

National Archives. Remembering Vietnam. Thru Jan 6. archivesfoundation.org.

National Gallery of Art. Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. Thru Nov 25.

Exhibition: Sense of Humor. Thru Jan 6. nga.gov.

National Geographic. National Geographic: Exploration Starts Here.

Thru Jan 1. Titanic: The Untold Story.

Thru Jan 6. nglive.org.

National Museum of Women in the Arts. Heavy Metal—Women to Watch 2018. Thru Sep 16. Bound to Amaze: Inside a Book-Collecting Career. Jul 20Nov 25. nmwa.org.

Smithsonian Anacostia Museum.

Bridging the Americas: Community and Belonging from Panama to Washington, DC. Thru Jan 31. anacostia.si.edu.

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian. Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now. Thru Mar 10. Lincoln’s Contemporaries. Thru May 19. npg.si.edu.

GALLERIES African American Civil War Memorial and Museum. 20th Anniversary Celebration: Hubert Jackson & Curtis Woody. Thru Jul 21.

20th Anniversary Celebration: Hubert Jackson & Curtis Woody. Jul 22-Sep 30. zenithgallery.com.

DC Arts Center (DCAC). Judging Me Judging You. Thru Aug 12. dcartscenter.org.

District Architecture Center. 2018 Professional Awards of the Potomac Chapter, ASLA. Thru Aug 31. aiadac.com.

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TA S T E O F T I TA N I C W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 2 5

|

7–1 0 P M

|

TICKETS $60

Experience the golden age of transatlantic steamship travel through a one-ofa-kind culinary journey provided by top D.C. restaurants and bars, including: D U K E ’ S G R O C E RY H A N K ’ S OY S T E R B A R RÍ RÁ DISTRICT COMMONS AND MORE! Sample from restaurants serving Titanic-themed bites, from the haute cuisine served in the firstclass dining room to the hearty fare in the third-class saloon. The event will also feature signature cocktails, an open bar, live music, and exclusive access to the National Geographic Museum’s “Titanic: The Untold Story” exhibition.

1 7 T H & M S T R E E T S N W | FA R R AG U T N O RT H & W E S T

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT TASTEOFTITANIC.COM

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

3 2 • J ULY 2 0 , 2 0 1 8

CA LE N D A R of opportunities for prizes. To RSVP, visit dcfray.com/bingo.

E-mail calendar items to calendars@washblade. com two weeks prior to your event. Space is limited so priority is given to LGBT-specific events or those with LGBT participants. Recurring events must be re-submitted each time.

TUESDAY, JULY 24

By GRACE PERRY

TODAY D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) hosts its weekly WOOF! Happy Hour tonight starting at 5 p.m. for guests 21 and over. The bar will serve free pizza at 7:30 p.m., and there is no cover charge before 9:30 p.m. There are also drink specials, including draft pitchers for $9 until 10 p.m. Guests 18 and over are welcome after 9:30 p.m. For more details, look for the event on Facebook.

Following WOOF! Happy Hour, D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) hosts its monthly Pup Night from 8 p.m.-close, offering guests the chance to play with puppies over music and drinks. Guests must be 18 to enter and 21 to drink.

More information available on the event’s Facebook page.

Rock & Roll Hotel (1353 H St., N.E.) hosts Bear Happy Hour tonight from 6-10 p.m., featuring drink and food specials, including half-price wings and $4 rail drinks. The event has no cover charge and is for guests 21 and over. To see all the specials offered, look for the event on Facebook.

Reel Affirmations XTRA presents “Cherry Grove Stories” tonight from 7-9 p.m. at HRC (1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.). Directed by Michael Fisher, the film explores the beachfront enclave of Cherry Grove on Fire Island, N.Y., which previously provided a safe haven for gays from arrest and prosecution.

General admission tickets are $12 and VIP tickets, which include one complimentary alcoholic beverage and movie popcorn or candy, are $25. Tickets can be purchased at thedccenter.org.

The Warner Theatre (513 13 St., N.W.) hosts pop duo Erasure for their “World Be Gone” tour with dance/electronic opener Reed & Caroline tonight and Saturday night. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $47240 and can be purchased at livenation. com. There is an eight-ticket limit for the concert. There are no elevators at the theater.

“Two-Spirits Belong Here” takes place tonight at The Potter’s House (1658 Columbia Rd., N.W.) from 6-8 p.m. TwoSpirits were the first queer people on the American continent and tonight’s event highlights spoken word, theater, music, drag and more from Two-Spirit artists from across the country. Tickets are by donation and can be found at eventbrite. com. Donations will also be accepted at the door.

The Imperial Court of D.C. (721 8 St., S.E.) continues Morgan’s Birthday Raffle for a chance to win a Weekend

PHOTO COURTESY HEARTSONG

A work by Jabari C. Jefferson on display at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville.

Ball Package to the “Gala of the Americas: Coronation VII” (September 6-9) which includes entrance to the “Out of Town” show, coronation ball and victory brunch.

Raffle tickets are $5 each and can be found at imperialcourtdc.org.

SATURDAY, JUNE 21 Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.) hosts drag brunch today starting at 10:30 a.m.

Guests can enjoy performances by local drag artists over an all-you-can-buffet featuring cheesy grits, fresh seasonal fruit, homemade desserts and more.

The first mimosa and Bloody Mary are also included in the ticket price. Nellie’s advises guests to arrive 15 minutes early to ensure being seated on time. Tickets are $42 and include gratuity and can be purchased at eventbrite.com.

LGBTQ People of Color Support Group meets today from 1-3 p.m. at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.). The meeting will be facilitated by trauma social worker Dakia Davis. Anyone who identifies as an LGBT person of color is encouraged to attend the support group and engage with fellow community members in a safe space. For more information, visit thedccenter.org/events.

The D.C. Center Arts Gallery (2000 14th St., N.W.) presents its newest installation RoopKotha tonight with an opening reception from 7-9 p.m. The installation features a compilation of photos and memorabilia which document various LGBT initiatives undertaken by two advocates in Bangladesh. Guests will have the chance to meet Rasel Ahmed, a representative of the collection, during his talk and catered reception, which includes light fare, wine, beer and nonalcoholic beverages. The event is free and open to the public; to RSVP, visit thedccenter.org/events.

Clarendon Ballroom (3185 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va.) hosts DJ S-tyles tonight starting at 10 p.m. The DJ will play a mix of old school, hip hop, EDM and top 40. Guests can also enjoy a special menu offer, which includes a

drink, appetizer and beer selection for $5.

The rooftop and main floor both open at 8 p.m., and there is no cover charge for the event. More information available at clarendonballroom.com.

UPROAR Lounge & Restaurant (639 Florida Ave., N.W.) hosts Erasure: Post Concert Video Party starting at 10 p.m. following the Erasure concert at Jiffy Lube. DJ Travis Island will spin, offering guests an array of synth-pop acts of the era. For more information, look for the event on Facebook.

SUNDAY, JULY 22 “The Rumpus Room: A Family Dance Party” takes place today from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. at U Street Music Hall (1115 U St., N.W.). The Rumpus Room adapts the club environment — disco balls, lights, music — into a family-friendly space.

Maracas, hula-hoops, beach balls and other toys are also provided. The event is designed for children 8 and younger, but older siblings are welcome. Tickets are $15 each and required for all guests, except infants who are free. Guests can also purchase a four-ticket pack for $40.

Maximum of three children per adult. To purchase tickets, visit ticketfly.com.

Freddie’s Beach Bar (555 23rd St., Arlington, Va.) hosts karaoke tonight starting at 9 p.m. Guests are encouraged to come early and enjoy happy hour specials from 4-8 p.m. All guests must be 21 and up, and there is no cover charge for the event. For more information, look for the event on Facebook.

MONDAY, JULY 23 Coffee & Conversation for Older LGBT Adults meets today at 10 a.m. at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.). Guests can stop by and enjoy a complimentary cup of coffee over conversation with fellow LGBT community members. For more information, email david@thedccenter.org.

Kingfisher D.C. (1414 14 St., N.W.) hosts bar bingo tonight from 8-10 p.m. The event is free to enter, and there are lots

Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts Gaymer Night tonight at 7 p.m., featuring multiplayer games on seven TVs, raffle prizes and drink specials including $3 Bud Lite.

For more details, look for the event at cobaltdc.com.

Genderqueer D.C. meets tonight at 7 p.m. at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.). Anyone who identifies outside of the gender binary is encouraged to attend the support group, including those individuals just beginning the process of questioning and understanding their identities. For more information, visit genderqueerdc.org.

Jam Cellar (2437 15 St., N.W.) hosts a beginner swing dance class tonight starting at 7:50 p.m. No partner required; flat shoes recommended. The class is free and open to the public. For more information, look for the event on Facebook.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25 The Lambda Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for Duplicate Bridge. For several decades the Lambda Bridge Club has provided a social space for gay bridge players. No reservations are required, and newcomers are welcome. Call 202841-0279 if you need a partner.

Center Careers Job Club meets tonight at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) starting at 6 p.m. The job club offers support to job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed.

The session will focus on developing interview techniques, goal planning and improving self-confidence. To sign up, visit thedccenter.org/events. For more information, email centercareers@ thedccenter.org.

D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) hosts karaoke tonight starting at 9 p.m.

There is no cover charge for the event.

For more information, look for the event on Facebook.

THURSDAY, JULY 26 Mandy Harvey takes the stage tonight at 6 p.m. at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage (2700 F St., N.W.), offering guests the opportunity to celebrate the Americans with Disabilities Act over a blend of jazz and pop. The 30-year-old Nashville native lost her residual hearing when she was 18 due to a connective tissue disorder and pursued several other careers before returning to music 10 years ago. Harvey earned national attention when she placed fourth on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” last year and continues to perform throughout the country. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit kennedy-center.org.

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Whitman-Walker Health AND IONA introduce... Silver Circle is

Silver circle

There’S still a few new tricks up your sleeve!

o Connect with other LGBTQ+ peers o Create a safe space to talk about issues that impact you o Build support to help navigate challenges

a bi-monthly, peer-led support group for DC residents who are over 60 and identify as LGBTQ+.

For more information on Silver Circle, email mmitchell@whitman-walker.org or call 202.939.7646 Sponsored by the DC Office on Aging.

Age Well. Live Well.

Copyright © 2018 Whitman-Walker Health.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

34 • JUL Y 20, 2018

O U T & A BO U T

By GRACE PERRY

PHOTO COURTESY KARPEL GROUP

Kesha, Macklemore join forces Kesha and Macklemore take the stage Saturday, July 28 at 7 p.m. at Jiffy Lube (7800 Cellar Door Drive, Bristow, Va.) with opening by hip-hop/rap artist, Wes Period.

The artists will perform “The Adventures of Kesha and Macklemore” as part of their joint concert tour promoting Kesha’s third studio album — “Rainbow” with hits “Praying” and “Woman” — and Macklemore’s second studio album, “Gemini” featuring “Glorious.”

Tickets range from $30-300 and can be purchased at livenation.com. There is an eight-ticket limit for the concert.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY KEVIN MAJOROS

United Night OUT is July 25 D.C. United takes on the New York Red Bulls for this year’s United Night OUT Wednesday, July 25 at 8 p.m. at the team’s new home, Audi Field (100 Potomac Ave., S.W.).

The event is hosted by Federal Triangles — D.C.’s LGBT soccer club — and a portion of the ticket proceeds benefits a non-profit promoting gay rights and equality.

Tickets are $30 each and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com. There is a nine-ticket limit for the game.

PHOTO COURTESY CBS

Cumming to perform cabaret July 28 World-renowned actor and singer Alan Cumming takes the stage at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W., 8 p.m.) Saturday, July 28 accompanied by D.C.’s Gay Men’s Chorus. The Scottish-American will perform “Legal Immigrant,” a cabaret of songs and stories about his 10 years as a U.S. citizen and what it means to be an immigrant in today’s America.

Cumming gained recognition for his Tony-winning performance in Broadway’s “Cabaret” and his Emmy-nominating performance in “The Good Wife.” He is also widely recognized for his social activism surrounding LGBT rights.

Cumming (who’s bi) has worked alongside organizations like HRC, GLAAD and the American Foundation for AIDS Research, working to promote the rights of LGBT folks and eliminate systemic stigma and discrimination.

Tickets range from $29-349 and can be purchased at kennedy-center.org.

Dacha hosts Gays Against Guns July 24 Dacha Beer Garden (1600 7 St., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Cause Tuesday” event series Tuesday, July 24 from 4-8 p.m. with Gays Against Guns (GAG) D.C. — an inclusive, direct action group of LGBT folks and their allies fighting to end gun violence and promote legislative reforms across the country.

Guests can purchase a wristband at the garden and receive extended happy hour prices until 8 p.m.; all proceeds benefit GAG D.C. There is no cover charge.

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

36 • J U L Y 20, 2018

VICKI LAWRENCE

Sunday, July 22 1pm and 7pm shows

BO O KS

‘Fairy Town’ boys Gay life in old-time Chicago was not what you think it was

SINATRA STANDING ROOM ONLY WITH JOE PISCOPO, DAVE DAMIANI & THE NO VACANCY ORCHESTRA

Thursday, July 26 7pm

WINFIELD PARKER AND THE UPSETTERS BAND Friday, July 27 8pm

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER has been reading since she was 3 years old. She lives in Wisconsin with two dogs and 12,000 books. Reach her at bookwormsez@yahoo.com.

Dates, times and old dead guys.

When you were in school, that’s all history was to you: a list of years and names to memorize and then forget, 20 minutes after finals week. So maybe now it’s time to find a history book that’s bethesdabluesjazz.com 7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD (240) 330-4500 relevant to you — a book like “The Boys of Fairy Town” by Jim Elledge.

Because Chicago was considered to be a “largely male frontier city” when it was established in 1837, the Windy City has always been home to a strong population of gay men, cross-dressers and male sex workers. Here, Elledge tells the stories of Discounts are Subject to Income Eligibility Requirements some of the ones who might otherwise have been forgotten.

Take, for instance, John Wing who, says Elledge, “was a sodomite.”

That’s the word many post-Civil War Chicagoans would have used for Wing, although most people then only had a vague idea of what a sodomite was. They knew it was something bad, though, even Lifeline Program (Economy II) Residential Aid Discount (RAD) Program as Wing did something good: he was a Annual discount on one Potential savings are faithful diarist and left his volumes for land line service per between $300-$475 historical posterity. household. annually.

Female impersonators were tolerated in Chicago in the latter 1800s, but ADVERTISING PROOF sometimes only barely. Those who were ISSUE DATE: 180713 SALES REPRESENTATIVE: most accepted were men who put their feminine sides to work as entertainers; REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of Assistance (CAP) Residential Essential Service Program proof. Proof will be considered final and(RES) will be submitted for publication if Customer revision is not submitted within 24 hoursProgram of for others, the desire for women’s the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week of publication.Brown naff pitts NS omnimedia llc Potential (dba the washingtonsavings blade) is not responsible Advertiser is discount up tofor the content and/or design of your ad.Potential responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users GN clothing was meant for strictly private can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or could $276 winter EVISIONS any rgihts of third parties,during including, butthe not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of anybe over $450 times. For families, such things were often copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or propety right, false advertising, unfair /LOGO REVISIONS competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of anti-discrimination law annually. or regulation, heating season. an embarrassment. Elledge cites a story or any other right of any person or entity. Advertiser agrees to idemnify brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the ADVERTISER SIGNATURE SIONS washington blade) and to hold brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contract obligations with the liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred washington blade newspaper. This includes but is not limited to placement, who was married and of “Mrs. Noonan,” by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertiser’s breach of any of the foregoing representations payment and insertion schedule. and warranties. worked at a nearby military fort. Despite her final wishes, the “women at the fort” went to prepare her body upon her death and discovered that Mrs. Noonan was a man. Her third husband swore that he To apply for the telephone Lifeline Service (Economy II), call 800-253-0846. hadn’t known but he was ashamed, and killed himself.

These programs are for DC residents only.

Gay men posed nude for other gay men in perfectly respectful and artful ways that went mainstream. Newspapers reported on same-sex love, sometimes RAY ON MY MIND FEATURING KENNY BRAWNER - TRIBUTE TO RAY CHARLES Sunday, July 29 7pm

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kindly, sometimes scandalously. Gay lectures were open to the public; entire neighborhoods became hubs of openly gay life and living as another gender was easy until, alas, the tide started to turn in the 1940s and being gay could suddenly get a man arrested.

At first blush, it may seem like “The Boys of Fairy Town” is just another historical tome. Dates, times, old dead guys, but look deeper and you’ll see why you should want to read it: it’s bursting with stories that are irresistible.

In his introduction, author Jim Elledge explains how he chose the tales he shares in this book and why recording these stories for public consumption is essential. In addition to being lively and ever-relevant, the tales show an interesting historical arc of acceptance and persecution, displaying a youthful America that’s just dipping her toes into the pool of difference and duality.

Readers are lent a feeling of pride but may also be particularly affected when Elledge shows the tide turning.

“The Boys of Fairy Town” contains nudity, but also the kind of delight you get when you come across a pile of old newspapers in Grandma’s attic: it’s quaint, informative and entertaining. It’s totally worth your time.

‘THE BOYS OF FAIRY TOWN’

By Jim Elledge Chicago Review Press $29.99 290 pages

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

D I N ING

J U L Y 20, 2018 • 37

Tempting tastes Fresh Match, Short Eats expand on the farmers market concept

By EVAN CAPLAN There’s no better way to get to know D.C. in the summertime than by visiting its bounty of farmers markets, and summer is when they are truly in full bloom.

Dozens of markets pepper the region, from small and cozy neighborhood spots to sprawling spaces with more vendors than you can throw a locally grown squash blossom at. To distill the options in the district, we’ve done the dirty work for you, with five fabulous finds.

When the Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times of London give a market kudos, there’s certainly a reason to check it out. One of the oldest and most famous farmers markets in the city, the Dupont Circle Farmers Market is also one of the largest, with more than 50 stands during the busy season (summertime; it operates all year long). Founded in the food-desert year of 1997, the market sits at 20th Street N.W. and Massachusetts Avenue, just by the north end of the Dupont Circle Metro stop. On sale? Both conventional and certified organic fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, as well as other fresh items. But like any good farmers market today, there’s also an enormous array of other prepared and packaged goods, from bread to jams to handmade dumplings. And liquor. And of course, this being Dupont Circle, there is plenty of eye candy in addition to the other food on sale.

In June, three major coalitions of farmers market organizations, including FRESHFARM, Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture and Community Foodworks, launched Fresh Match, a dollar-for-dollar matching program for shoppers using federal nutrition benefits. Shoppers can now use any covered benefits. “The launch of the Fresh Match program significantly advances food access for vulnerable neighbors in our communities,” said FRESHFARM Executive Director Julia Feder.

Farmers markets tend to operate in the mornings (though there are a few notable exceptions weekday afternoons), so finding sustenance while shopping is critical. And as much as we love breakfast burritos, morning Mexican has been on the menu for a long time. Ready to take up the mantle? Breakfast rotis. Enter Short Eats, run by first-generation Sri Lankan children of a cook, who love to share their family’s food with the community. Focusing on street food, this shop’s most famous for the breakfast

PHOTO BY MOLLY SCALISE; COURTESY FRESH FARM

A bounty of fresh, locally grown produce available at D.C.’s best farmers markets.

rotis. Stuffed with pork sausage, turkey or veggies, along with eggs and veggies, the good stuff is then wrapped in fluffy, hearty roti (a South Asian flatbread, usually not leavened) and grilled hot.

They’re available only at the Columbia Heights and Petworth Community farmers markets.

Farmers markets aren’t only abuzz with good food, they’re also a place to get a buzz. Just as the region has uncorked small-batch alcohol production in the past few years, now they’re showing up at markets. What’s great about these local businesses as well is that they also source their ingredients from area farms.

At several D.C. farmers markets, you can pick up beer from Right Proper Brewing and cider from Supreme Core Cider. On a larger scale, spirits are offered from One Eight Distilling, New Columbia Distillers, Don Ciccio & Figli, Republic Restoratives, Tenth Ward Distilling, and Twin Valley Distillers.

Farmers markets are like organic onions — layers upon layers. Farmers markets act as community centers, a space where consumer can create and develop direct relationships with farmers and producers, and can learn exactly where their food comes from. These markets bring in vendors and chefs for demos and educational sessions.

Musicians enliven markets to make them multi-sensory experiences, bike shops give lessons in bicycle care, and, as noted above, markets are becoming increasingly more accessible and inclusive. Farmers markets have become more than a stand to buy heirloom tomatoes — these are spaces to celebrate, support and take part in a thriving local food system.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

DONBEYERVOLVO.COM | 703-237-5000

38 • J U L Y 20, 2018

F I LM

The World Noticed.

2018 WORLD CAR OF THE YEAR PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSAL

CHER in ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!’

MM2 is frothy fun ABBA-inspired sequel/ prequel delights

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“

Some think I should dress more like a woman. Some think I should dress more like a man.

I may not fit some ideas about gender, and I am a proud part of DC. Please treat me the same way any person would want to be treated: with courtesy and respect.

Discrimination based on gender identity and expression is illegal in the District of Columbia.

If you think you’ve been the target of discrimination, visit www.ohr.dc.gov or call (202) 727-4559.

OFFICE OF

GLBT AFFAIRS

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For anyone who’s sick of depressing headlines, superhero sagas or action movies, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” (MM2) is the perfect antidote. It’s a frothy concoction of infectious ABBA music, beautiful scenes of happy people dancing on a sun-drenched Greek island and lots of cute cameos from visitors and residents of the island. There’s also a tear or two to keep everything in balance.

“MM2” is both a prequel and a sequel to the original “Mamma Mia” (2008). In the sequel section, set five years after the first movie, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) has been renovating her mother’s old farmhouse.

She’s been ably assisted by her supportive stepfather Sam (Pierce Brosnan), who may or may not be her biological father, and her suave manager Fernando (song cue alert!), played with great charm and sly humor by Andy Garcia.

While the grand reopening of Hotel Bella Donna is a great excuse to get the old gang together again, it’s also a melancholy occasion. Donna has died a year before the story starts, although Meryl Streep magically returns to sing one final song.

The prequel section kicks off at Donna’s college graduation ceremony. Young Donna (an excellent Lily James) heads off to Europe and winds up living in a decrepit farmhouse on the aforementioned Greek island. With her friends and back-up singers Tanya (Jessica Keenan Wynn) and Rosie (Alexa Davis), Donna discovers that this is a magical island where everyone knows the lyrics and dance moves for every ABBA song.

Along the way, Donna also has brief but passionate affairs with three young men: Sam (Jeremy Levine), Harry (Josh Dylan) and Bill (Hugh Skinner). After the men leave, Donna discovers she’s pregnant, although she is unsure which man in the baby’s father.

In crafting a sequel to the surprise hit “Mamma Mia,” writer/director Ol Parker (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) had to tackle the problem faced the creator of any jukebox musical: how do you cram well-known songs into a new plot?

For the most part, Parker succeeds

admirably. Some of ABBA’s lyrics are uncomfortable in their new surroundings and the plot is rather ramshackle. But Parker and choreographer Anthony Van Laast strike cinematic gold with “When I Kissed the Teacher” which becomes Donna’s rebellious valedictory address; “Andante, Andante,” which becomes Donna’s audition song; “One of Us,” an exquisitely staged duet for Sophie and Sky (Dominic Cooper); and, “Waterloo,” a high-energy ensemble number set in the fancy French restaurant where Donna and Bill have their first and only date.

Parker also weaves together the two plotlines with ease and elegance. He sculpts delicate narrative parallels between the adventures of Sophie and young Donna and the action moves smoothly and cleanly from past to present. Editor Peter Lambert and cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman also draw strong visual parallels between the two timelines and lovely images of young Donna frequently serve as a visual backdrop for Sophie’s songs.

Parker generally gets strong performances from his mostly all-star cast. Cher joins the cast as Sophie’s estranged grandmother Ruby and nearly steals the show. Her entrance into the party is magnificent and her wistful duet with Andy Garcia is spectacular.

Christine Baranski and Julie Waters return as Donna’s buddies Tanya and Rosie and make the most out of their minimal screen time. Their performances are nicely echoed

by Wynn and Davies who have great fun as Young Tanya and Young Rosie. Likewise, both James and Seyfried offer dynamite performances which are enhanced by their almost uncanny resemblance to each other.

Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård (Harry) and Colin Firth (Bill) all slip easily into their old roles, and Bronson slips much more easily into his music this time. His quiet reprise of “SOS” as a eulogy for Donna is quite touching, one of the emotional highlights of the movie.

“Mamma Mia” is a great summer treat.

With lively music, fun choreography, stunning scenery and entertaining performances by popular actors in familiar roles, the musical is a pleasure you don’t need to feel too guilty about. Just don’t question the plot too much, or you might realize it doesn’t match up with the backstories of the first.

And don’t leave during the credits. The movie ends with a delight Easter egg.

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AUTOS

J U L Y 20, 2018 • 39

Sedans fight back Crossovers and SUVs may be all the rage but fourdoors are hanging on

By JOE PHILLIPS Remember tried-and-true sedans? They’re getting crowded out by popular crossovers and SUVs. Ford will even stop making almost all its passenger cars in a few years. But other automakers are fighting back, determined not to let their four-door mainstays go the way of saggy pants, studded belts and — yeesh — anything velour. From fashionable tweaks to full makeovers, sedans are getting sassier.

GENESIS G80 3.3T SPORT

GENESIS G80 3.3T SPORT $56,000 Mpg: 17 city, 24 highway 0 to 60 mph: 5.1 seconds Genesis. It used to be a Hyundai model but is now its own luxury brand: Genesis Motor America. Taking a successful entity like Hyundai and spinning off a more exclusive brand can be tricky but not impossible. Think Honda/Acura or Toyota/Lexus. Of the three Genesis models (all sedans) the G80 midsizer is in the sweet spot between the G70 compact (which just arrived this summer) and the full-size flagship G90. While the G80 base model is just fine, things really pick up with the all-new 3.3T Sport.

It boasts the same twin-turbo V6 as in the larger G90. But because the G80 3.3T Sport weighs less, it’s quicker and more responsive.

Sure, a souped-up Mercedes E-Class AMG will eat this car’s lunch on the test track, but such a blistering Benz costs $104,000. This G80 holds its own, though, when it comes to svelte styling and a slew of standard features: steering-wheel paddle shifters, matte wood and aluminum trim, heated/cooled front seats, rear and side window shades, wireless charging pad, carbon-dioxide sensor on the climate control system, Lexicon 17-speaker stereo, tons of safety gear and, well, you get the idea.

Basically, the Genesis game plan was to create a capable, fully loaded sport sedan with a bargain basement price.

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NISSAN MAXIMA SR MIDNIGHT EDITION $40,000 Mpg: 21 city, 30 highway 0 to 60 mph: 5.9 seconds Nissan sedans have always enjoyed edgier styling than their Honda and Toyota counterparts. But the midsize Maxima SR — the sportiest of five Maxima trim levels — goes even further with a special Midnight Edition package. The look is tough and rebellious, sort of like adding tats and piercings all over.

The extra cost is just $1,200, and you can choose black, white or gun-metal gray for the grille, rear spoiler, 19-inch aluminumalloy wheels and mirror caps. There’s also a rear diffuser and custom floor mats. The 360-degree parking camera is a nice touch, as are the outside mirrors with reverse tiltdown feature and the auto-dimming driverside mirror. Other plusses include the robust and fuel-efficient V6, as well as an easy-to-use infotainment system. Because this is the SR trim, there’s also a sporttuned suspension, aluminum sport pedals, paddle shifters, heated/cooled seats, LED headlights and a dynamic control system for improved handling and braking.

Minor quibbles include lack of rear-seat headroom and no all-wheel drive. Despite the in-your-face exterior design and tunerlike engineering, the high-quality cabin is actually quiet thanks to sound-reducing glass and other innovations.

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VW PASSAT GT $30,000 Mpg: 19 city, 28 highway 0 to 60 mph: 5.9 seconds Is the all-new VW Passat GT punching above its weight? A GT designation, which means Gran Tourer or Gran Turismo, take your pick, is usually reserved for high-end performance coupes, such as a $225,000 Bentley Continental GT. But the Passat is an everyday midsize sedan, more accustomed to traffic jams than jaunts to the Hamptons. Still, most Passats are equipped with four-cylinder turbos, while the GT model features a 280hp V6. It’s not exactly a speedway racer but is certainly plenty quick. And few $30,000 sedans come with V6 bragging rights. To bolster its sporty bona fides, the Passat GT has a low, taut suspension, along with a slick black roof, red brake calipers and red accent trim around the grille.

There’s even a slightly throaty exhaust rumble. Cabin highlights include faux carbon fiber accents, black headliner and two-tone, black and gray seats. For safety gear, there’s a blind-spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert and pre-collision warning.

Gas mileage isn’t exactly noteworthy, but with sure steering, smooth shifting and little body roll when tackling curves, this GT is definitely fun — and very affordable.

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P H O T O S BY MI CH A E L KE Y

The Washington Blade held its Sports Issue launch party at Walters Sports Bar. The Blade celebrated across the street from Nationals Stadium at the LGBT Pride Pop-Up Bar for Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week.

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A R T S & EN TE RTA I NMENT

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Hit opera ‘As One’ depicts trans protagonist CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

As a filmmaker and as an activist, Reed was disappointed by his loss.

“I originally wanted the whole film to be about that court case, a kind of ‘Mr. Bullock Goes to Washington,’ but that didn’t happen. I ended up following the story for five years after that,” she says.

Tracking the investigations of intrepid journalist John S. Adams and other state officials and legislators, Reed began to fully understand the harmful impact of “dark money,” a new type of political fundraising that was launched in the wake of the Citizens United decision.

As Adams explains in the movie, dark money organizations like the “Americans for Prosperity” and the “Club for Growth” raise money from anonymous donors and fund a variety of right-wing causes and candidates.

Reed says the impact of “dark money” is especially insidious in primary elections and ballot initiatives. Dark money funders focus on unseating incumbents and replacing them with opponents who are more financially and socially conservative.

“In primary elections, in safe districts, it’s not about Republican versus Democrat,” Reed says. “It’s about how far to the right they can push the Republican party. Repeat that again and again and you’re going to have a vastly polarized political system.”

“Dark Money” was Reed’s second cinematic excursion into her home state of Montana. The first was the autobiographical documentary “Prodigal Sons,” which followed Kimberly and her girlfriend Claire as they returned to Helena for Reed’s 20th high-school reunion. While Reed’s high-school classmates knew that the former football star had transitioned, she had not seen any of them in person since her graduation.

The award-winning “Prodigal Sons,” which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2008, also chronicles Reed’s stormy reunion with her estranged brother Marc, who was adopted by Reed’s parents the year before she was born. They ended up in the same grade when Marc was held back due to behavioral problems.

Marc’s issues with being adopted and with sibling rivalry were exacerbated after an automobile accident left him with severe brain injuries. Medications and several operations reduced his dangerous seizures but increased his violent mood swings. The movie captures several of his frightening outbursts, including one where he smashes a picture frame and another when he hurls transphobic insults at Reed.

While Marc’s medical issues remained unresolved, “Prodigal Sons” does contain a surprising revelation about his parentage. Shortly after the reunion, Marc learns that his birth mother was Rebecca

KIMBERLY REED’s first film was autobiographical. ‘Dark Money’ follows the ripple effect of Citizens United.

Welles, daughter of legendary filmmaker Orson Welles and his second wife, screen goddess Rita Hayworth. While Rebecca died before she could meet Marc, the family does get to spend time in Croatia with Welles’ companion Oja Kadar.

As Reed notes, “Prodigal Sons” was an unusual and unexpected constellation of events that taught her a lot about the vagaries of documentary filmmaking.

Making the movie also gave her fresh insights into her relationship with her family while she transitioned.

“Families can be very supportive and loving,” she says. “In my case, I was the one who was withholding. I wanted to go it alone, so I never really gave my family a chance to react.”

During the years she was filming “Dark Money,” Reed’s artistic life took an unexpected turn. Composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist Mark Campbell asked Reed if she wanted to make some films that would be part of an opera.

Intrigued, Reed said yes.

The result was “As One,” a chamber opera for two voices and string quartet. In 15 songs, a mezzo-soprano (Hannah after) and a baritone (Hannah before) depict the experiences of its sole transgender protagonist as she endeavors to resolve the

discord between herself and the outside world. As work on the opera progressed, Reed ended up working with Campbell on the libretto and several of the songs are based directly on her own experiences.

The award-winning piece has made operatic history for its subject matter and for it incredible popularity. Since its premiere in 2014, “As One” has become the most-produced modern opera in North America. According to Opera America it was performed 15 times and was number 14 on the list of most performed operas in the Unites States and Canada. It was the only new work to be included on the list and even beat out old warhorses “Turandot” and “The Barber of Seville.”

While her next film project is still under wraps, Reed and her operatic collaborators have already been commissioned by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to start work on their next opera.

Based on an original concept by Campbell, “Today It Rains” is a new chamber opera inspired by the life of bisexual artist Georgia O’Keefe. Reed is again creating new films to frame the action and is working with Campbell on the libretto.

The new opera envisions O’Keeffe’s

PHOTO BY CLAIRE JONES

personal journey on a life-changing train ride as she reexamines her tumultuous marriage with photographer Alfred Stieglitz, her artistic stasis, and her need for new inspiration to guide her work.

“Today It Rains” will premiere in March under the banner of American Opera Projects.

So how bleak in Reed’s opinion is the dark money phenomenon? She says it’s flooded into states facing ballot initiatives on a variety of progressive issues including unions, reproductive rights and LGBT issues.

“Because bigots don’t want to stand up and say they support discrimination against LGBT people, they hide behind dark money. It’s really maddening. The reason I find campaign finance reform so compelling is that it is the fundamental issue,” Reed says. “You can’t solve any other political problem without knowing where the money is coming from, where the influence is coming from, what you’re up against.”

According to Reed, the antidote is disclosure: enforcing existing laws and fighting to get new ones in place.

“What you see in our film, what you see happening across the country, is that states are calling for disclosure. You see it moving like marriage equality did. Pretty soon we’ll hit the tipping point.”

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Attorneys that are OUTthinking |OUTspoken |OUTdoing ackermanbrown.com

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REALESTATE

How to appeal to millennial homebuyers Outdoor space, lighting, kid spaces are key

By ALLISON GOODHART DuSHUTTLE Big news! A recent study by the National Association of Realtors shows that millennials make up the highest percentage of homebuyers nationwide. We’ve found this to be true of our local market in the D.C. Metro area as well. We’ve also found that these younger buyers have very specific tastes. Therefore, it’s critical if you’re selling your home to prepare your home to appeal to millennial homebuyers. Even though it may not be the way you currently live in your home, or even the way you will decorate your next home, this approach can net you more money at the end of the day. So, how does one prepare their home to appeal to millennial homebuyers? We have a comprehensive plan we reserve specifically for our listings, but here is a sampling of our insider secrets.

1. First, consider the color palette of your home. Younger buyers prefer cool color tones – such as whites, grays, light creams and blues over warmer color tones like darker beige or bolder colors. While you don’t need to change everything in your house, repainting goes a long way to making homes seem more updated and millennial-friendly. Our stagers are experts in recommending colors that

Millennial buyers love outdoor space.

PHOTO BY DARIUSZ JARZABEK; PHOTO COURTESY OF BIGSTOCK

will complement your existing cabinet and counter colors. Of course, we can recommend changes to these as well if needed (and the budget allows). However, we are seeing that most sellers are doubling their investment when they repaint and make other appropriate color adjustments.

2. Second, swap out old hardware. These are quick fixes that go a long way. If you have older fixtures in your bathrooms or kitchens, you can go to Home Depot and switch them out for just a few bucks. Your space will instantly look updated.

3. Next, add some drama with lighting. While a little more expensive than hardware, adding more dramatic (yet still neutral) light fixtures adds some WOW factor that younger buyers love. While you may prefer a ceiling fan in your bedroom, millennials often prefer a chande-

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lier or pendant light to make the space feel more luxurious. Again, a few hundred bucks can add instant drama!

4. Fourth, make it kid-friendly. Not all millennials have kids, but many are starting to think about that next step. When they are buying their first – or second – home, they want to make sure there are spaces convenient for nurseries and playtime.

5. Maximize outdoor space. Millennials LOVE outdoor space. Often these buyers are moving from condos and when they are making their first purchase, they want to be able to entertain outdoors. Create cozy outdoor living spaces with your furniture with a firepit and cozy chairs. If you have photos of gatherings you’ve hosted over the years, show ‘em off!

6. Finally, stage! This is the most expensive item on the list, but can make the big-

gest impact. Interestingly, even though they came of age during the HGTV era, many millennials don’t have the vision to see past furniture – both the style and the way it is arranged in the room. That’s why it’s critical to make the space feel like them from the outset. Great staging means great photographs, which gets buyers in the door. Once they’re inside, it gets them to envision themselves (instead of their parents or grandparents) in the space. You want them to feel immediately at home. We have countless examples of homes that sold immediately after staging went in after being on the market for months.

All of these are great ways to help your home appeal to millennial homebuyers.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Our goal is to help you minimize your expenses and maximize your profit. That’s why we will look at each home with a different eye to determine who the most likely buyer is and what they are looking for in their next home. We’ll create a custom plan so you’ll know you’re in good hands.

ALLISON GOODHART DUSHUTTLE is with Compass Real Estate. In 2017, the Goodhart Group helped 120 clients achieve their real estate goals. Led by Sue and Allison Goodhart, they have been named a Top Agent by both Washingtonian and Northern Virginia magazines. Allison can be reached at 703362-3221 or allison@thegoodhartgroup.com.

Must Love Dogs: Romance blooms between the owner of a yappy Schnauzer and her condo association president.

VALERIE M. BLAKE, Associate Broker, GRI, Director of Education & Mentorship Dupont Circle Office • 202-518-8781 (o) • 202.246.8602 (c) Valerie@DCHomeQuest.com • www.DCHomeQuest.com

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W A SH I N G T O N BLA D E . CO M

“

I love wandering through Smithsonian museums, eating on H Street with friends, and going to shows at Howard Theatre.

I’m a transgender woman and I’m part of DC. Please treat me the way any woman would want to be treated: with courtesy and respect.

Discrimination based on gender identity and expression is illegal in the District of Columbia.

If you think you’ve been the target of discrimination, visit www.ohr.dc.gov or call (202) 727-4559.

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EMPLOYMENT PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS ONLINE

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Move-in date flexible, ideally Sept. 1.

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